O: The Power of Submission

Adam & Eve

Genre: Feature

Director: Ernest Greene

Cast: Carmen Luvana, Dragon Lilly, Tommy Gunn, Todd Driller, Kylie Ireland, Angelina Black, Tyler Knight, Van Damage, Shayla LaVeaux, Johnny Castle, Evan Stone, Justine Joli, Monica Sweetheart
Cameo Roles: Nina Hartley, Claire Adams, Ernest Greene, others not credited

Length: 164 minutes

Date of Production: 9/5/2006 (box); 4/1/2006, 4/2/2006, 4/3/2006, 4/8/2006, 4/9/2006 (credits)

Extra's: The box included a package of three O rings from California Exotic (a sex toy/novelty company) that was a cleaver tie in. The three sizes should accomodate everyone except for us porn reviewers who would need to trade in one of the rings for the ultra-small version. The first disc only had a trailer for the movie itself but the second disc was much more generous. Most people will like the two bonus scenes the most, starting with Austyn Moore and Tommy Gunn in their scene from Head Master 2. It lasted about 14.5 minutes and showed her doing a far better job then she has done of late, making it a decent extra for the set. The second scene was between Vanessa Lane, Harmony, Joey Ray, and Trent Soluri from Tailgunners as described below. It also lasted about 14.5 minutes for those keeping track. More than those, I enjoyed the 34 minute long Behind the Scenes feature by Vic Alpine as it gave more sex, more information, and projected a lot of the fun factor that took place on the set of the movie. All of the main characters had a chance to provide some input with the director describing his ideas pretty well. There was a lengthy photogallery, a bonus photogallery from Nina Hartley's Anal Kinksters, some spam, a FSC advertisement, trailers to Tailgunners, Jane Bond DD7, and scores of others. It also had a decent interview with director Ernest Greene that lasted 32 minutes long. He went into great detail about bondage, the movie, and some anecdotes about the shoot. The packaging was my only sore spot since the double disc set came in a flimsy cardboard box with nothing to prevent the discs from getting scratched and the cardboard appearing to be the cheap kind that rips easily.

Condoms: Yes

Audio/Video Quality: O: The Power of Submission was presented in a 1.85:1 ratio letterbox color as shot by director Ernest Greene for Adam & Eve. I would have greatly appreciated an anamorphic, HD-shot picture for more detail but the lighting was such that this might have exaggerated the visual flaws of the production too so your mileage will vary. In regards to the lighting, it was uneven, causing some grain and light video noise, with all the sex taking place indoors with an emphasis on night (or night looking) scenes. The composition of the shots tended to favor the look of the ladies but there were times when implant scars, blemishes, and other attributes not conducive to making the women look their best were either focused on or at least made more prominent. The DVD mastering seemed to be well handled though with no edge enhancement or compression artifacts observed. In general, the visual elements were decent but not as high end as the movie was promoted having, even if it did look better than any recent bondage flick I've seen. The audio was presented in the usual 2.0 Dolby Digital with some separation between the channels on the music track but the vocals seemed captured in monaural only. Nina's lisp got in the way of her narration (I really like her but some roles in a movie are better handled by others) though the dynamic range of the audio track seemed better than average.

Body of Review: Ernest Greene is best known these days as the husband of porn legend Nina Hartley and a bondage aficionado who makes the occasional porn flick centering on his chosen kink (or assisting Nina in her educational series). Considering the really poor technical elements that go into most bondage movies, he really has the field to himself when it comes to presenting it to a more mainstream audience. His latest work comes from Adam & Eve in the form of O: The Power of Submission, an homage to the classic novel by Dominique Aury. The story followed a young lady (Carmen Luvana) who learns the power of submission from her lover (Tommy Gunn) as she does anything to please him. The nuances of this updated version focused more of the explicit sex (it is a porno after all) but provided one of the more interesting bondage releases in a while (at least since Jenna Loves Pain). Here's a look at the double disc set's scenes, noting that Carmen did use condoms but they really weren't al that prominently displayed in most cases:

Scene One: Carmen Luvana, playing the lead of the movie as featured on the front DVD cover, had a few false starts until she was trussed up in bondage gear to be flogged by Nina Hartley. Nina never sexually engaged her but Dragon Lilly, did, masturbating the contract cutie and going down on her until Tommy Gunn and Todd Driller, provided their cocks for Carmen to handle. She jerked them off and sucked them in turn, providing the oral stimulation needed to get them fully erect. That led, of course, to the men vaginally screwing her in several positions while the quartet was watched from the couch by three onlookers (Kylie, Nina, and Angelina). Dragon never took a cock inside of her, preferring to assist Carmen instead, also wielding a strap on dildo to pummel the gal before the men rubbed out loads onto Carmen's chest.

Scene Two: Kylie Ireland, the redheaded bondage hotty turned director, bleach blonde Angelina Black, Tyler Knight, and Van Damage, were up next in the living room after Kylie got some oral loving from Angelina. The ladies then took turns blowing the men with Kylie engulfing the black meat of Tyler while Angelina went for the spotted wonder of Van. Kylie was the better of the two since she managed to instill a sense of playfulness along with her years of skill, the gals riding the cock once the oral was over. Angelina went straight for the anal but Kylie moved from the vaginal to a powerful DP (the third in her career if I recall correctly) as Tyler burrowed deep inside her rectum. The scene then ended with the ladies taking the facials and Kylie cumswapping her load to Angelina with them kissing as the camera faded away.

Scene Three: Shayla LaVeaux, still looking lean and fit years into her career, was up next as she oiled her body to take on Johnny Castle, after failing to negotiate a deal to allow her a smoke. He assisted in rubbing her down and she led him to the black satin sheeted bed to suck off, showing that her experience served her well as she worked him over rather well. He snacked on her pussy for a brief time, pounding her pussy as she bucked and rode him as though she were into it more than he was. She then got out her vibrating bullet to masturbate with as he slowly tapped her ass in doggy, moving to missionary before blowing his load onto her abdomen (after which he gave her that smoke she wanted like a good sport).

Scene Four: Carmen Luvana, all spiffied up in a classic black dress, was given to the mighty Evan Stone as she was to serve him in a darkened room. He gave her some orders and she followed them reasonably well, masturbating on the leather couch in front of him before he started going down on her. She then sucked him off using no hands, jerked him off, and then tried to deepthroat him into an erection before she climbed on top of him to provide her best ride in the last year in terms of being active and seeming into it. He moved to plugging her ass as she begged him to do, with her Spanish dirty talk enhancing the moment more than a little bit. She used a vibrator and took the mouth pop without flinching this time, providing some post coital sucking too. Whew!

Scene Five: Carmen Luvana, now in the role of dominatrix as her command of the principles of bondage grew, took control of lovely redhead Justine Joli, in the moderately lit room. She spanked her charge on the bed, sat on her face, and had her eat at the Y before reciprocating for a taste herself. This led to some toy use and the close of the scene, with Justine appearing to be the more fluent of the two in terms of enjoying the lesbian tricks displayed.

Scene Six: Monica Sweetheart, the leggy and beautiful hotty, was up last in a scene with studly Tommy Gunn as she modeled fetish attire to please him. He stroked her body before going down on her, thumbing her ass to ready her for the later penetration. In turn, she slobbed him knob with gusto, alternating between licking and sucking as he guided it into her mouth. This led to a short vaginal penetration and a less active anal where he boned away on her ass up, head down figure. The scene ended when he popped a modest load, resulting in the plot deviating as Carmen walked in on them.

Bonus Scene 2: Tailgunners: Vanessa Lane, Harmony, Joey Ray, and Trent Soluri, were up next after the ladies participated in a press conference with the President (Phil Harvey; head of Adam & Eve in a great role). Trent initially warmed up the ladies and they responded well with dirty talk and some oral before he tapped into them. Joey was surprised by the action but didn't miss a beat as he joined in, with the gals seeming to have a contest for who could ride most actively. As the couples pounded vaginally on the desk, the ladies gave up some moans and seemed into the action, with Vanessa using her ass to really cause him to bust a nut with the resulting facial. Harmony took her facial well too, each gal providing some post coital sucking to close out the decent scene.

Summary: O: The Power of Submission was the most feature laden release to date by director Ernest Greene and if I hadn't just watched Adam & Eve's recent blockbuster Tailgunners, I could have easily mistaken this one as their yearly effort made to garner awards. The sex was a mixture of feature porn and something a bit harder but the inevitable wooden acting by most of the cast once again weakened the result of the plotline more than a little bit. The problem with most non-comedy features is that the cheese factor of the typical porn acting tends to get in the way (which is why so many suggest gonzo has taken over) but I've seen plenty of examples where sexually skilled performers also managed to provide some feature worthy acting too. Still, for the great cast in the sexual roles, the superior extras, and the overall value of the double DVD set, I gave O: The Power of Submission a rating of Recommended and suggest that fans of bondage and/or Carmen will probably consider it a must have piece of work.