Second Chance (Wicked) Review

Distributor: Wicked Pictures Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film Run Time: 92 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 2003 Director: Jim Enright Written by: Melissa Monet Cast: Avy Scott (as Avy), Jezebelle Bond, Aurora Snow, Alexis Amore, Fujiko Kano, Cameron Cain (as Cameron), Cherokee, Steven St. Croix, Jay Ashley, Randy Spears, Terry J. Hunter, Dave Cummings, Frank Bukkwyd, Tina Tyler, Dic Tracy, Melissa Monet, Jim Enright, Shanna McCullough, Felix Vicious Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1 Disc: DVD 9 (SS, DL) Special Features: All Access: The Making of Second Chance, Bloopers, Star Galleries, Star Interviews, Promotional Material, Photo Gallery, Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery, Star Stats, Trailers DVD-ROM Special Features: Wicked Casino, Wicked Web, Wallpaper

Synopsis:
The aging John (Dave Cummings) is visited by old friend Harry (Steven St. Croix), who has been given a second chance at life and has become young again. Harry invites John to get a second chance at life as well but John isn't sure that he wants to give up everything that he already has.

Audio/Video:
Second Chance is presented with an English 2.0 Stereo track and an English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track. Both tracks sound basically the same, utilizing the same score, with the sound placement being the only difference. Either way you go, the film sounds good. The audio is well balanced and the dialog is clear and easy to hear. Wicked hasn't included any foreign language tracks or any subtitle options for the feature film.

Second Chance is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of 1.33:1, which appears to be the original aspect ratio for the film. I think that it's great that Wicked has started embracing 5.1 Surround tracks on many of their releases and I hope that they start embracing the anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio soon as well. As with the majority of the films that Wicked releases, the picture quality is excellent here with nary a blemish, artifact or glitch of any sort visible in the print. The color levels are correctly set resulting in a great viewing experience.

Special Features:
Wicked has included quite a few extras on the disc, as per their norm, and the majority of them relate to the feature film. There is All Access: The Making of Second Chance, which is a 30 minute piece on the feature film. The nicely prepared and presented featurette shows the shooting of the film, preparation for the film and Jim Enright talking about the film. There is a fun piece that features six minutes of bloopers. There are star interviews with Tina Tyler, Cameron, Cherokee, Randy Spears, Fujiko Kano, Alexis Amore, Jezebelle Bond, Aurora Snow, Avy Scott and Felix Vicious. There are also star stats, which used to be called audio bios on previous Wicked discs, for Avy Scott, Jezebelle Bond, Aurora Snow, Fujiko Kano, Cherokee, Randy Spears, and Steven St. Croix. Each one contains some text information on the star, a Wicked filmography, pictures and a link to their scene, or one of their scenes, in the film.

If you like photo galleries, this film is chock full of them. There is the main photo gallery, which contains 20 stills on a track. There are star galleries for Aurora Snow, Avy Scott, Cherokee, Fujiko Kano, and Jezebelle Bond, which each feature 20 stills on a track. There is also a behind the scenes photo gallery, which features 15 stills on a track, each regarding the production of the film.

The few extras that aren't film specific are trailers for Double Feature, PornoGothic, Sex Safari, and Working Girls. There is also the promotional material which Wicked has presented at adult expos on the disc. Also presented on the disc are urls where you can find additional info on Wicked Pictures on subjects like awards won, their company profile and other material.

DVD-ROM Special Features:
This disc is a PC Friendly enhanced title and Wicked has included their standard DVD-ROM extras on the disc. There is the Wicked Web, which is a gateway link to Wicked's website. Also included is the Wicked Casino, which is a free casino program that you have to install on your computer that allows you to play casino style games online against opponents for Wicked Cash or just by yourself for fun. The available casino games are Black Jack, Roulette, Baccarat, Slots, and Poker. There is also one style of Wicked theme wallpaper for your PC available on the disc.

Disc Design/Navigation:
Second Chance has a combination of simple animated menus and non-animated menus that fit the theme of the film and look great, as do most discs coming from Wicked these days. There are eight chapters available from the chapter menu, each one is identified by a video clip from where the chapter goes to and by a name for the scene. There are 13 chapter stops within the film itself. There is a time code for the feature film encoded on the disc.

General Review:
The premise for the film is one that we have all seen before, and probably will see again, yet Wicked manages to breathe some life into it for this fun film. The film isn't perfect, but nothing detracts from it heavily. The story is entertaining, I just wish some more work had gone into it to fill the few holes. Fans of wall-to-wall sex will probably cringe to hear me say this, but the film would have benefitted from another ten to fifteen minutes of non-sex footage to clean up the plot. There are also some very cheesy lines sprinkled throughout the film, some so bad you want to cringe, but overall it's a good film.

The acting in the film is a mixed bag. There are some stars that put in a good performance, for example, Randy Spears and Steven St. Croix. For others though, their performances seem to need some work, for example, Avy Scott's performance is too wooden for my tastes and Dave Cummings seems to have just walked through most of his scenes. I wish some more time had been taken to get a better performance for some of the scenes. The cast that participates in the sex scenes, both male and female, look good and give some great sexual performances.

The sex scenes, as is usually the case with Wicked films, are tame as far as the acts go. This doesn't mean that they aren't hot or bad to watch though. It just means that viewers that require extreme acts probably won't get into the sex scenes in this film. Viewers that like tamer scenes and couples should have no problem with them though. The sexual themes in the film are vaginal sex with pussy eating (male to female, female to female), blow jobs, pussy fingering (male to female, female to female), and lesbianism. For viewers that care about condom use, condoms are used in all of the sex scenes.

The film is nicely shot, both the sex scenes and the non-sex portions making for a nice looking film. The film also utilizes some nice locations, both indoor and out giving the film a more natural feel since not every portion is filmed indoors. Some work has gone into the non-sex portions of the film to make them look nice, which is probably why I'm coming down harder on the acting and the plot.

Scene Synopsis:
The first scene brings us Jezebelle Bond and Steven St. Croix and starts out with a blow job before going into the pussy eating. The scene then concludes with some vaginal sex. The second scene features Aurora Snow with Jay Ashley and starts out with a pussy fingering and pussy eating combination before going into a blow job. The scene concludes with some vaginal sex. The third scene gives us Cameron and Steven St. Croix and starts out with some pussy eating. Before the vaginal sex conclusion there is a blow job.

The fourth scene presents us with Alexis Amore, Avy Scott and Fujiko Kano for a lesbian scene that includes pussy eating and pussy fingering. The fifth scene brings us Cherokee with Randy Spears and consists of a blow job only. The sixth and final scene in the film gives us Avy Scott, Cherokee and Randy Spears and starts out with a blow job before concluding with a vaginal sex and pussy eating combination.

Parting Thoughts:
I wish that Jim Enright had tried a little harder to get some better performances for some of the scenes and the story had been padded out a little to fill the few holes in it, but other than this, Second Chance is a great film that should please fans of tamer sex and couples. Viewers that hate a plot with their porn or require nastier sex will want to look else where. For everyone else, you should consider picking up this title.

Screenshots:

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