Flashpoint by Wicked Pictures - review by tim1724

Writer/Director: Brad Armstrong
Cast: Jenna Jameson, Jill Kelly, Johnni Black, Sindee Coxx, Missy, Brittany Andrews, Sydnee Steele, Asia Carrera, Brad Armstrong, Mickey G., Mike Horner, Steve Drake, Eric Price, T.T. Boy, Jonathan Morgan, special appearance by Veronica Hart (non-sex role)

Plot
A firefighter is killed and the rest must figure out how to deal with it. It's porn, so obviously they console each other with sex. Later on the focus switches to arson, as someone is setting fires and one of our firefighters is a suspect. The resolution of this part of the plot is rather predictable, but it works in the context of porn.

Technical aspects
Audio is muted at times, but generally good. Music is sometimes too loud in scenes.

For the most part the video is pretty good, given the age of the movie. Some older DVDs are made from VHS tapes, but this movie was edited digitally. The “Making of Flashpoint” bonus feature was obviously transferred from a VHS tape, but the actual movie wasn't. The film is presented in its original 4:3 aspect ratio.

The MPEG-2 bitrate is on the low side and there are compression artifacts in some scenes, but that's to be expected given the DVD authoring tools of the time period. It only really becomes an issue in scene three, which is filled with compression artifacts and has an odd, jumpy look to it.


Scene One: Jenna Jameson and Mickey G.

There's less chemistry between these two than in some of the other scenes, but it's not bad.At one point Mickey is covered in sweat, which is a bit of a turnoff. The sex is pretty standard, but is enjoyable enough. For those who care, condoms are used in this scene (but in none of the others, if I remember correctly).


Scene Two: Jill Kelly, Johnni Black, and Steve Drake

The chemistry between these three is great; all three seem to love working together. Both women are all over Steve, resulting in a very enjoyable threesome. None of them ever look like they're being left out; everyone is busy having fun throughout and some good camera angles let us see everything that's going on. There's some brief (but explicit) anal sex in this scene.


Scene Three: Jill Kelly, Brad Armstrong, Mickey G., Mike Horner, Sindee Coxx, Johnni Black, and Steve Drake

This scene features an entertaining orgy on back of fire truck. Everyone gets involved, with some great camera angles and creative positioning all over the truck (and up the ladder) making for an exciting scene. Unfortunately it's spoiled by some messed up video encoding. Compression artifacts abound and the framerate of the video seems to fall to 15-20 frames per second. The problem exists throughout the scene, but only in this scene. It's disappointing, as good orgy sequences are rare, and this one showed promise.


Scene Four: Jonathan Morgan, Asia Carrera, Eric Price, and Sydnee Steele

We start the scene going back and forth between two couples, but soon they get together and it's time for four-way fun. All four of these performers are extremely attractive and are really into the sex, making this an especially hot scene. Some good camerawork and inspired position choices keep the visuals interesting. This scene also has some anal sex.


Scene Five: Jenna Jameson and TT Boy

This is a somewhat odd dream sequence taking place in a burning building with Jenna in in red latex, spiked collar (4" spikes), and long braids; TT Boy is in black leather straps. There's a great variety of sex in standing and semi-standing positions. Those who demand closeup shots will enjoy this scene, but there are plenty of reaction shots of both participants' faces to keep others happy as well.


Scene Six: Missy and Jonathan Morgan

The sex is a bit generic and straghtforward, but enjoyable. The sex is slow and gentle, but erotic. Missy's groaning can be annoying at times, but it's never too distracting. The fire engine is used once again; it really is a great platform for entertaining sex.


Scene Seven: Jenna Jameson and Brittany Andrews

Most straight porn has a lesbian scene at some point, and this movie saves it to the very end. Brittany and Jenna really get into it, with some great chemistry here. Some very hot cunnilingus, plus some tribbing and even some rimming as Brittany explore's Jenna's ass.
Brittany is a Jenna look-alike; I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one to think so, because they've given her a scarf to wear throughout the scene so you won't confuse the two. Anyone who loves blondes with large natural breasts will be in heaven.


Extras

• “The Making of Flashpoint” (35 minutes) is interesting but unfortunately it's a VHS transfer
• director interview
• star biographies
• trailers
• slideshow

I really enjoyed the sets and locations used in this film. They did a very convincing job with the firehouse. Random trivia: according to IMDB, the interiors of the firehouse were shot in the same location used for the headquarters in Ghostbusters.

There are seven sex scenes in this film. Given the amount of plot and the 151 minute running time, many of the sex scenes end up being rather short by today's standards.

I felt that most of the sex scenes felt rushed, thanks to their short duration combined with Brad Armstrong's habit of filming the performers in every position possible and then editing them all together in quick succession. You get 30 seconds of sex in one position, followed by another 30 seconds in a different position, and so on until the end of the scene. The scenes should have been longer; barring that, the pacing might have felt better with fewer positions so we could have a chance to appreciate each one. Only the final scene really felt like it was the perfect length.

More recent Brad Armstrong films address this issue by making the scenes very long. I think he would be better off concentrating on making each of the portrayed acts come across better, rather than cramming as many acts as possible into each scene.

I don't usually like threesomes or orgies in porn; I find they often don't translate well onto the screen. They're handled quite well in this movie and I really enjoyed the threesome and foursome in scenes two and four, respectively. It's too bad the orgy sequence had such severe technical issues; the action itself was quite exciting to watch.

I'm a bit torn between giving it 3 or 4 stars. If there were no technical issues with the video quality I'd probably award it 4 stars, but given the quality of the video compression, I'm only giving it 3 stars.