Rush (Digital Playground) Review

Distributor: Digital Playground Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film, Action, Couples Run Time: 100 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 2002 Director: Nic Andrews Written by: Nic Andrews Director of Photography: Nic Andrews Cast: Devon, Barrett Blade, Alexa Rae (as Alexa), Avy Scott, Jezebelle Bond, Mike Horner, Cheyne Collins, Lancaster Merrin, Omar Montana, Lezley Zen, Aria, Linda Roberts, Robby D., Robert Foster, Jay Coleman, Root Loggins (as Root Loggin), Michael Danze, Deebo, Mark Diamond, Mike Tristano (as Frank Castle), Denise Stone, Sarah Williams, Peter Davis, George Marks, James S. Mitchell (as James Mitchell), Holy Winters, Chris Hawke, Scott Berg, Larry Robertson, Nick Adams, Chris Flynn Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Subtitles: none Video: Widescreen, 1.85:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1 Disc: DVD 9 (SS, DL) Special Features: Commentary Track, Isolated Music Score, Behind the Scenes, Photo Album, Slide Show, The Rush Idea, Multi-Angle Crash Sequence, Original Screenplay, Trailers, Bios, Blooper Reel DVD-ROM Special Features: Strip Blackjack

Synopsis:
Escaped convict Carter (Barrett Blade) hires hooker Sera (Devon) for the night. They get interrupted by some thugs that shoot up the motel room. Carter flees, bringing Sera with him, for a trip across Texas as the thugs and police try to catch them seeking a better life.

Audio/Video:
Rush is presented with an English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track for this presentation. Despite a few problems, the track is excellent and heightens your viewing experience. The track appears to actually be a 5.0 mix as I didn't hear any indication of an .LFE channel. It could have been there and just been really subtle, but this doesn't really affect the viewing experience at all though. Other than the lack of the .LFE channel, the audio makes full use of all of the speakers. The two main problems with the film that may slightly bother your viewing experience are there are a few points in the film where some of the dialog can be hard to hear, for instance in the junk yard scene with Mike Horner and the music is at a higher level than the sex dubs making them hard to hear. Other than these two issues, the audio track is excellent. Digital Playground hasn't included any foreign language tracks or subtitle options.

Rush is presented in the widescreen aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1, which unfortunately is non-anamorphic. The film, shot on mini-35mm digital, is in great shape on this disc with a usually crystal clear sharp picture exhibiting no blemishes or artifacts throughout the print. The only places that the picture exhibits any problems are in some of the darker lit interior and exterior scenes where there is fine grain in the picture. The color levels are perfectly set making for a good overall viewing experience.

Special Features:
Digital Playground has loaded this special edition disc with features of which they all, except for a preview, relate to the feature film. There is an excellent feature length commentary track with Nic Andrews, Devon, and Barrett Blade, which tells a lot about the making of the film. There is an isolated music track, which allows you just to listen to the musical score of the film. There is an 18 minute behind the scenes piece, which gives the viewer a lot of information about the filming of the scenes. It is broken up by scenes and includes a chapter stop for each one.

There is the multi-angle crash sequence, which shows how the car crash was filmed from various angles. There is the blooper reel, which contains four minutes of flubs. The original screenplay is included on the disc in text form. “The Rush Idea” is a short piece that tells about the quad runner accident Nic Andrews was in and how he came up with the idea for the film while lying on a dirty road for several hours waiting for help to arrive. There are biographies, containing a detailed text write-up, for Devon, Barrett Blade, and Nic Andrews. There are two ways to view the photo gallery on the disc. If you choose the photo album, you get to flip through the pictures yourself or if you choose the slide show, you get to watch the stills on a track. There are 33 stills in total showing stills from the film, production stills and out take stills. There are also trailers included on the disc for Rush and Devon Stripped.

DVD-ROM Special Features:
The only DVD-ROM extra is a game of strip blackjack with Rocki Roades, which allows you to bet against her and, if you raise enough money, get her to remove her articles of clothing. It's a fun little game.

Navigation:
There are 42 chapters available from the main menu for Rush. They are identified on the chapter menu by a video clip from where the chapter goes and by the chapter number. There is a time code encoded on the disc for the feature film. Given the style of the film, the provided navigational system is excellent for finding any portion of the film that you are looking for.

General Review:
To begin with, Rush is a plot-based adult film and unlike many plot-based adult films, it has a full coherent story. The result of this is that unlike many of the feature films, which just contains a little fast forward material for those uninterested, the majority of this film is the plot, so viewers that don't like a plot will find very little of interest here. On the other hand, viewers that like a real plot to go with their porn will be in seventh heaven with this film.

The acting in the film is decent, with some of the performers putting in some excellent performances. Mike Horner, who I have been unimpressed with in the past, does an excellent job with his performance here. Alexa Rae leaves a lot to be desired with her performance with Mike Horner, it is obvious that she is not entirely comfortable with the scene and brings down the scene. Later, she does a good job with Blade Barrett. Blade Barrett is great in his role as the bad guy with a heart and Devon doesn't look too out of place attempting to act.

Although not all of the sex scenes fully fit right into the story, none of them seem forced into the film and several of them fit nicely into the story. The sex in the film is definitely oriented toward the couples audience as there is nothing that could be considered nasty to any scene. Due to the rather lengthy plot portions and the tame sex scenes, this is not a film for raincoaters. The sex scenes are hot including Alexa Rae's despite her lack of interest in the scene.

Some viewers may be disappointed to find out that Avy Scott and Jezebelle Bond only have a lesbian scene in the film, but after watching it they should have little to complain about. The sex scenes in the film are shorter than in the average adult film being produced today, which may disappoint some viewers. The sexual themes in the film are oral and vaginal sex with pussy fingering and lesbianism. For viewers that care about condom use, there are condoms used in some of the scenes and not in others.

The film sports unusually high production values with a Hollywood looking picture and decent special effects, for which there are numerous errors, but since this is a porn film, I'll let them all slide. Depending on your tastes in music you'll either hate or love the hard-hitting musical score for the film that sounds excellent. As said by the director, instead of synthesizing the music for the film, they utilized real instruments to create the score. The photography in the film is beautiful and shows some real talent. The end result is some nice looking sex scenes and plot portions that don't look like they were filmed as an afterthought being combined to make one beautifully looking film.

The Scenes:
The first scene brings us Alexa Rae with Mike Horner for some dirty fun. The scene starts out with some pussy eating before Alexa gives Mike a blow job. The scene then goes into the vaginal sex before we cut to Mike cumming. The second scene brings us cover girl Devon with Barrett Blade for a scene starting with a blow job before Barrett eats Devon's pussy. Then they go into the vaginal sex before we cut to Barrett cumming.

The third scene brings back Devon for some action with Cheyne Collins. The scene starts out with a blow job before Cheyne pays some attention to Devon's pussy. The scene then heads into the vaginal sex and Cheyne pulls out to cum to end the scene. The fourth scene brings us some lesbian action including pussy eating and vaginal fingering from Avy Scott and Jezebelle Bond.

The fifth and final scene brings Devon and Barrett Blade again for a nice outdoor scene. The scene starts out with some pussy eating before Devon sucks on Barrett's rod. They head into the vaginal sex to end the scene.

Parting Thoughts:
Digital Playground has given this film an excellent presentation and it is obvious that they are proud of this film and I can see why. Without the explicit sex, this film could pass as a high B-grade film. Viewers that require nasty sex or hate a plot will want to pass on this title completely but viewers that like a real plot with their porn and couples audiences will be well advised to pick up a copy of this disc.

Screenshots:

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