Hercules (Wicked) Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  4/22/2003

Running Time: 143 min.

Production Date: 5 / 5 / 2002

Director: Jonathan Morgan

Cast: Julia Ann, Evan Stone, Randy Spears, Stephanie Swift, Sydnee Steele, Dee, Kaylynn, Gina Ryder, Zana, Lezley Zen, Kristal Summers, Holly Hollywood, Flick Shagwell, Ashley Blue, Fujiko Kano, Cherie, Joel Lawrence, Lee Stone, Ian Daniels, Alex Sanders, Pat Myne, Steve Hatcher, and Billy Glyde in sexual roles and Ron Jeremy, Mike Horner, Daniel Leslie Metcalf, and many more in non-sex roles

Initial Expectations: I’ve been looking forward to this one ever since I heard about it roughly a year ago.

Initial Reaction: It’s even an better DVD than Euphoria, and the movie is a heck of a lot more fun!

Who Should Watch It : Anybody who wants a good laugh, high production values, and hot sex

Who Should Avoid It: Raincoaters and anybody who wants nastier sex

Audio /Video Quality: You have the option for the audio between Dolby 5.1 and DTS. It’s all very clear and well balanced, and sounds just as great as one would hope it would. The video is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen. Although it looks great, I can’t help but be a little disappointed that with this big of a release for Wicked that it isn’t presented in anamorphic widescreen.

Music: The music nicely changes in balance and style throughout the movie. The music mixes the traditional porno style dance music with the classical styled movie music you’d expect from a mainstream Hercules movie. It’s great and helps out the entire movie.

Menus: The menus on Hercules are nothing short of amazing. I know David Crawford is very proud of them, and he has every right to be. The main menu gives a great first impression, and all of the menus are highly animated and professional. The main menu has a very long opening, but if you want to skip it all you have to do is hit your menu button and you go right to the short version of the menu. The chapter menu is the closest thing to a basic menu, and lets you select a scene based on a small clip of each scene and a scene number, but even that has animation built into it. The second DVD also has very nicely animated menus, and in a great touch, gives them a different style than used in the first DVD while keeping the same high quality.

The Feature: After Zeus heads down to the mortal world to party like it’s 1999 BC, he knocks up a mortal woman who gives birth to Hercules several months later. Like most wives, Hera wasn’t happy about this and set out to do what she could do destroy Hercules. She curses Hercules, and after the curse disappears, since there’s debate over whether it wore off or whether Zeus made Hera remove it, Hercules sets out to make things right with the help of his friend Theseus through the 12 labors assigned to him by the three Fates.

Poor, starving farmer Sparky (Ian Daniels) starts things out giving Hera (Julia Ann) the little he can since she’s on a weekend pass from Mount Olympus. They exchange oral favors quickly before Ian fucks Julia missionary style on her altar and then lets her ride him reverse cowgirl. Ian finishes Julia off doggie style before giving her a pretty average facial. It’s a pretty good scene with nice energy and chemistry, but nothing wildly over the top.

Randy Spears shows why most male nannies of the time were eunuchs after going on a walk with Dee, the virgin daughter of his boss. Dee gives Randy some amazing oral action before he starts fucking her from behind before letting her ride him reverse cowgirl. Dee finishes off Randy with some great oral and double fisted action before taking his nut butter on her chin. It’s a great scene with very good chemistry and energy. Dee is really amazing here, and her oral talent alone is enough for a great scene, let alone the great job she does fucking Randy.

Hera sends wood nymphs, who everyone knows are the whores of the forest, to distract Hercules from the fourth labor, retrieving the golden apple. While Evan Stone takes on Gina Ryder and Cherie, Randy Spears gets to take on Lezley Zen, which you don’t get to see in the movie. After Gina, Cherie, and Evan work each other over to make sure everything’s ready, the girls take turns riding Evan’s cock. Cherie rides Evan’s tongue while Gina rides his cock, and then Gina watches and pulls Evan out now and then to suck Cherie’s juices off his sheathed cock. Evan also gives Gina a little pumping behind, and of course, the girls play with each other lightly throughout it all. Finally, the girls play with Evan’s nipples as he strokes himself onto their pretty faces. It’s an incredibly hot scene with Gina Ryder amazing me! Everybody’s into everybody else here, but Gina seems to be over the top. She gives just the right looks at the camera and at Evan throughout the scene, and darn near turned me to jell-O just watching.

Fujiko Kano shows Evan Stone and Randy Spears her biggest talent with the help of Pat Myne and Steve Hatcher. Much to Randy’s dismay, Evan isn’t interested in these talents, and drags Randy off. Fujiko starts off with a bit of sucking and stroking for the guys before Pat goes to town on her from behind. The guys take turns giving her a rectal reaming before depositing their dick droppings on Fujiko’s tongue. It’s another hot scene with nice energy and chemistry. Fujiko takes the anal like she’s making toast, as some might say, and definitely doesn’t disappoint.

Evan Stone takes on Queen Hippolytia of the Amazons, aka Sydnee Steele, next. Amazingly, Sydnee looks even better than normal with a couple streaks in her hair, and lets Evan pay his tribute to her before she gobbles his knob. Evan and Sydnee keep things going with pile driver, reverse cowgirl, and the spoon before she gives Evan’s cock the corkscrew (or would that be cockscrew?) until he pops on her tongue. Sydnee and Evan have almost always had great chemistry together, which might be due to Evan having his very first scene with her. Regardless of why, they turn in another great performance here.

Meanwhile, Randy Spears, Steve Hatcher, Lee Stone, and Alex Sanders takes on Amazons Flick Shagwell, Zana, Ashley Blue, and Lezley Zen. After a little oral, they mix things up with plenty of fucking and swapping partners before finishing things with a variety of pops. I’m not one for oral scenes, but this one seemed pretty good. They mix things up quite a bit and the camera nicely moves between the individual people and groups to distance shots.

Julia journeys to Hell to persuade Hades (Joel Lawrence in so much makeup that he’s unrecognizable above the neck) to mess up Hercules’ last labor. She sweetens the pot by bringing in Aphrodite (Kristal Summers), and talks them past their personal differences to get a good bangin’. They don’t waste much time warming each other up, since apparently Hell has everybody hot enough already. Joel fucks Julia in a couple positions, as well as giving Kristal a little reverse cowgirl time, before letting them team up to make him pop. As usual, Joel gives a great load, and there’s more than enough for the both of them. Julia and Kristal work great here with Joel, and make this, yes, another winner.

Finally, Stephanie Swift, Holly Hollywood, and Kaylynn ignite the fires of Hell. Amazingly, the three girls are natural and work it so that nobody is ever left out. Even more amazingly, they constantly work each other over without ever breaking out a single toy. Unlike many scenes, this one has no need for toys and works great without it. The three girls completely devour each other before finding someone else to devour. It’s a hot scene, and although not what I would have expected for a final scene, is hot enough that I didn’t care!

Not surprisingly, Hercules is a heck of a lot of fun, as well as hot. Randy Spears and Evan Stone play great off each other, and Julia Ann fits in with them perfectly as the evil Hera. I can’t help but hope that this isn’t the only time we see Randy and Evan working together like this since they have the best interaction I can think of for two male leads in a comedy outside of Jonathan Morgan and Steven St. Croix in Wicked’s Nights movies. Yes, they overact things a little, but they play to their strengths and do it just right to make it all the more fun. There’s also little comments thrown in, such as the five-assed monkey, that make things even more fun. The sex is also very good, but seemed to be missing a little something that I just couldn’t put my finger on. I’m not sure, but it might be that it’s a little tame rather than pushing the sex most people expect in Wicked’s movies like many of Jonathan Morgan’s features do. Unlike many adult movies, the non-sex portions of the movie are so enjoyable that I easily forgot about the small problems I had with the sex. Hercules is an extremely fun fuck flick that fans of Jonathan Morgan, Evan Stone, Randy Spears, and Julia Ann should really enjoy.

Extras: There are very few extras on the first DVD, but what’s there are definitely quality extras. Some of the usual extras are here such as the Wicked Casino, weblinks, and star bios for Julia Ann, Stephanie Swift, Sydnee Steele, Zana, Lezley Zen, Kristal Summers, Fujiko Kano, Evan Stone, Randy Spears, and Jonathan Morgan. Each bio includes a bit of personal information, a link to the star’s scene, and a few photos. You also have the ability to read the script and jump from it to the movie. It’s a nice extra, and gives you a taste of the magnitude of the movie. There’s also multi-angle pops, multiple versions of some scenes, and a commentary.

The commentary track teams up Randy Spears and Julia Ann with Jonathan Morgan. Not surprisingly, this is an amazingly fun commentary. Randy, Jonathan, and Julia play off each other amazingly well. They mix in plenty of stories about what happened on the set, their personal tastes, teasing each other, and joking around about the cast. I think I laughed every bit as hard at the commentary as at the movie. This is easily one of the best Wicked commentaries I’ve heard, and is right up there with Beautiful/nasty and Double Feature!. I’m almost afraid of what this might have turned out like if Evan Stone would have been thrown into the mix!

Multiple angles are available for the pop shot sequences. You can choose between two angles and whether or not to have an icon let you know when the angles are available. In each case, the angles are all true multiple angles and give you a completely different view rather than something like giving a mirrored image.

There are also multiple versions for the movie. If you choose this option, at certain points in the movie you’re given the option to watch alternate scenes. One is between Randy Spears and Lezley Zen, which you can watch instead of Evan Stone taking on Cherie and Gina Ryder, and the other is between Julia Ann, Sydnee Steele, and Billy Glyde, which you can watch instead of the lesbian three-way.

Randy Spears gets it on with wood nymph Lezley Zen in the first alternate scene. Lezley works Randy over with her great oral skills before riding him reverse cowgirl style. Randy also fucks Lezley from behind and missionary style before she sucks and strokes him onto her tongue. Lezley Zen has almost always impressed me, and this scene is no different. She really gets into things and seems to have a natural love for sex. Between this and her ability to actually act, I have no clue why somebody hasn’t signed her to a contract yet.

The second alternate scene gives Billy Glyde the pleasure of Julia Ann and Sydnee Steele, who’s decked out in a shiny red wig. The girls team up to warm Billy up before Julia hops on for the first ride. Her pleasure continues as Sydnee licks her snatch while Sydnee gets fucked from behind. Julia leaves Billy to Sydnee and plays with herself while Sydnee rides Billy reverse cowgirl and finally pops across her tongue. It’s a hot scene, but also a little odd in the good way. Julia and Sydnee don’t overshadow each other at all, which is very odd for a scene like this. It also speaks very well of their professionalism, since it’s a hot scene with both girls doing a great job.

The second DVD is filled to the brim with an amazing array of extras. You have the extras you’re used to from Wicked, such as weblinks, photo galleries, the company profile, interviews, deleted scenes, and other behind the scenes featurettes. The most surprising thing here is that there’s only one trailer rather than several, and that’s for Hercules.

All Access: The Making of Hercules lasts fifty three minutes and is broken down day by day. As usual, each person in the cast is nicely identified as they take the screen. You get to see Jonathan Morgan working with the cast and crew, the scenes being shot, and what the cast does when they’re not in front of the camera. There’s also plenty of screwing around and chatting with the cast members to give you a taste of the personality for some of the stars. Jonathan Morgan introduces each section of the feature, which helps with the pacing of the feature as well as giving it a nicely organized feeling. It’s a very well done behind the scenes feature that’s fun to watch.

There’s also quite a bit of footage that didn’t make the cut movie, including bloopers, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and multiple version scenes. The blooper reel lasts almost eleven minutes. There’s plenty of screwed up lines, people cracking up, a few sexual blunders, and the cast having fun on the set, which makes for a very fun featurette. The seven deleted scenes last about twelve minutes and are all introduced by Jonathan Morgan who talks about why the scenes were cut. They’re shown with bits of the original movie, and nicely highlighted by having the original movie in black and white while the deleted scene is in color. In each case, you get a nice selection rather than just showing the star walking through a dark cave. The alternate ending shows what would happen if Hercules came out on top rather than Hera. Finally, the multiple version scenes shows about four minutes of the ad-libbing between Randy Spears and Evan Stone. Needless to say, this is more than a little amusing and should really please fans of Randy Spears and Evan Stone’s humor. They’re all very nice bits of extra footage that are all worth checking out.

You also get a couple other looks at the making of Hercules, first with a pre-production featurette and second with the director’s diary. The director’s diary lasts eleven minutes and is a new featurette for Wicked. It’s video diary where Jonathan Morgan talks to the camera throughout the filming of Hercules. It’s a great featurette that I hope Wicked continues in the future. You can see how much Jonathan works towards getting things just how he wants and how it affects him. The joy, the frustration, and Jonathan Morgan’s eloquence are all in full view here as he takes you through the filming and editing of Hercules.

The pre-production featurettes are broken down into the make-up, the auditions, the rehearsals, the locations, and the art direction. The make-up section lasts about five minutes and show the transformation of many of the stars. The auditions last about seven minutes show many familiar faces, as well as plenty of unfamiliar ones, trying out for a few of the roles. The rehearsals shows Evan Stone and Julia Ann working with their script coach for a little over three and a half minutes. Jonathan Morgan leads the six minute locations featurette with the help of Brad Armstrong and Brit Morgan (who’s still looking darn good). They talk about what they have planned for the bare locations before showing the clip from the movie with how it turned out. Finally, there’s the seven and a half minute art direction featurette, which covers both the costumes and sets and is also led by Brad Armstrong. As usual, Brad shows such a creative and artistic eye that I’m starting to wonder if he’s really straight. It’s a great selection of featurettes that gives you a very nice look at some specific areas of the creation of Hercules.

Surprisingly, there’s only one interview, and that’s with Julia Ann and lasts twelve minutes. She talks about her journey through the industry, sexuality versus sensuality, meeting her fans, her sexual tastes, and her contract with Wicked. As always, Julia comes off as very personable, very professional, and very articulate. It’s a nice interview that every fan of Julia Ann should take the time to check out.

As they’ve been frequently doing lately, Wicked has included several photo galleries. The production gallery lasts about five and a quarter minutes, while the behind the scenes gallery lasts roughly eight minutes. You also have star galleries for the entire female cast which last between one and three and a quarter minutes, with most of them running about a minute forty. In each gallery, you get about five seconds for each very nice looking snapshot or full screen photo. There’s also a four minute featurette on the shooting of the boxcover, which although not a photo gallery, basically covers the photo shoot for the boxcover. There’s a couple short interviews with Julia and Evan as well as the two of them posing for the photos. As usual, Evan Stone brings more than a little humor to the featurette and makes it more than a little enjoyable. Finally, there’s the five minute Girls of Hercules featurette, which shows each of the ladies in the movie as they pose for the photo galleries. More than anything, this feels just like a moving photo gallery or music video. Although it’s not anything really special, it is a nice little featurette.

Themes: Straight, interracial, group, lesbian, anal, orgy, and spanking

Raincoat Factor: Medium

Condom Usage: 100%, although some of it is very well hidden

Overall: Currently, Hercules can be found online for $28 to $30 with only a couple stores offering it. Although this is on the high side for DVD releases, you really get your money’s worth here. The movie is long, a lot of fun, and hot. The only thing holding back the technical aspects is a non-anamorphic presentation, and there’s plenty of great extras, all of which are worth checking out. If you’re interested in this one, don’t waste the time renting it. Just go out and buy it.

Note to Wicked: It’s great to see you supporting the widescreen format, but it would be great to see you taking it all the way to anamorphic widescreen.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

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