Page 68 - AVN May 2015

editor’s choice
Barbarella XXX
An Axel Braun Parody
MOVIES
AAAAA
Wicked Comix
Wickedb2b.com
Director: Axel Braun
Cast: Riley Steele, Asa Akira, Chanell
Heart, Rachael Madori, Kurt Lockwood,
Alec Knight, Evan Stone, Eric Masterson;
Tera Patrick, Kiki D’Aire, Priya Rai, Jessica
Ryan, Selma Sins, James Bartholet,
Michael Vegas, Ron Jeremy, Others
(Non-Sex Roles). 116 Min.
Category: Parody - Comedy
Axel Braun’s Barbarella XXX may hold
the distinction of being the first
porn parody ever to boast better
special effects than the original. And
while one might actually expect as
much given how many light years
effects have come since 1968, Braun
and company don’t go so slick as to
betray the cheese factor that makes
Roger Vadim’s classic so charming.
There’s plenty of Velveeta to be
found here.
More significantly, however,
Barbarella XXX marks the debut of
the new Wicked Comix imprint,
under which Braun will continue
to make the comic book/superhero
parodies with which his name has
become synonymous over the past
several years. And what a delightful
way to kick the line off.
How nobody has thought to use
Barbarella as source material for a
XXX spoof prior to the past year
(director/performer Lorelei Lee
made her own version that was
released by Kink.com last fall) is
almost impossible to fathom. The
original has long been regarded as
just shy of a softcore porn film as it
is, and so much of its plot revolves
around sex. Jane Fonda’s opening
zero gravity striptease remains one
of the most universally revered bits
68 | AVN.com | 5.15
of spank bank material in the history of cinema, and the character herself
one of its biggest sexual icons. A hardcore incarnation is quite literally a
no-brainer.
Of course, such a legendary role demands just the right gal to fill the
accompanying space boots, and it would be tough to come up with anyone
more fitting than Axel Braun Productions contract girl Riley Steele—it’s
almost as though this is the part she was plopped into Porn Valley to play.
Wicked girl Asa Akira gets a plenty plum role as well, as the Great
Tyrant, whose shades of lesbian leanings in the original are brought to full
fruition here; she has a terrific girl/girl romp about midway through the
picture with Rachael Madori as three other gals fondle each other before
them, and then for the grand finale, she and Steele have at each other in a
truly epic lick-a-thon that will almost surely be a frontrunner for Best Girl/
Girl Sex Scene come AVN Awards 2016.
Another noteworthy, if contextually extraneous, sex scene is the boy/girl
between Kurt Lockwood and 2015 AVN Best New Starlet nominee Chanell
Heart, getting her first well-deserved crack at the big-league feature arena.
Barbarella XXX is sure to be an instant classic in its own right for so
many reasons, including but not limited to its guest appearances by both
Ron Jeremy and Tera Patrick, its hysterical riff on the original’s theme song
performed by Braun (yes, you read that right), and its wry in-jokes about
the film and the ’80s pop band whose name it inspired, Duran Duran.
In short, this is a timeless entry in the XXX canon, and we expect demand
for it will have a corresponding lifespan.
— Peter Warren
Visual Velveeta Above, Riley Steele and Rachael Madori in one of the movie’s epic lick-a-thons.
Below, Steele wearing one of its many campy ensembles.