Click for Trailer

Wetwork

Vivid Entertainment

Genre: Feature

Director: Eli Cross

Cast: Eva Karera, Stephen St. Croix, Penny Pax, Ritchie Calhoun, Claire Robbins, Derrick Pierce, Kimberly Kane, Danny Wylde
Non-sex roles: Kylie Ireland, Bryn “guess who” Pyor, Anders Ellis, many others not credited

Length: 152:37 minutes

Date of Production: 2014

Extras: The best extra was the 26:02 minute long Behind the Scenes feature where the director was instructing the cast and shooting footage while acting very much in charge. This was followed by a pop shot recap, a photogallery, trailers, the usual Vivid spam, and their long standing “special offer”.

Condoms: None

Audio/Video Quality: Wetwork was presented in anamorphic widescreen as shot by talented director Eli Cross for Vivid Entertainment. Fans of the director might remember some of his previous blockbuster efforts such as Corruption and Upload that literally blew away everything in their paths for years to come, the economic realities of the industry later relegating him to second fiddle status shooting parodies. This was a multiple camera shoot with Eli truly at the helm (Nic Danger, Gus Delario, Alex Ladd working cameras), no absentee director on this shoot, and there were a lot of high end establishing shoots, including plenty with the cast in them instead of cheesy stock footage like lower grade companies use. There was a company watermark on the lower right corner of the screen but it was small and unobtrusive, rarely noticed given the quality of visuals except in some of the night scenes. The limited use of subtitles were clear too, used in high contrast so they could be read but otherwise off the screen quickly, just as the flesh tones were accurate. The art direction/production design by Kylie Ireland and Andy Appleton was great as usual, the editing by Robert April keeping a good pace on the sex as well as feature elements (too many can pace one or the other but not both for some reason), Derrick Pierce choreographed the fight scene, and many others contributed to make this one look great. The aural components were very refined as well, the 2.0 stereo English track sounding a lot better than some artificial 5.1 that was added in post production only as other companies provide, Seth Cardigan and Clint Beastwood complimenting a fine score that was not credited. The vocals were clear and clean, no obvious overdubbing used, and the aural aspects were very balanced between the vocals, score, and ambient sounds for those paying attention.

Body of Review: Eli Cross is no stranger to directing quality movies, even for companies like Vivid Entertainment that haven’t shot a movie in quite some time. Before moving on, Eli shot a tight little spy thriller called Wetwork, his mission to provide a big budget feel largely successful. The movie stars Stephen St. Croix, one of the most credible actors in the industry, as a spy who wants to move on with his life, crossing paths with a successful artist played by Penny Pax, multiple layers of intrigue provided as the cards are slowly turned over for another winning story by author Mark Logan (yes, that guy again). I’m not going to be the reviewer prick that spells it all out for readers, they likely know who to avoid for spoilers by now, but suffice it to say that the show had a lot of entertainment value outside of the sexual trysts, enough to make me wonder why the fuck so many wannabe feature production houses settle for much less, including but not limited to shitty parodies. The back cover described the movie like this: “From AVN Award-Winning director Eli Cross comes a story of spies, international intrigue, assassins, and prostitutes of every sort...sexual and political. As ruthless spy Anthony faces a midlife crisis, he must decide whether to keep playing the kiss and tell, murder and mayhem game, or retire. But retire to what? And what about Katherine, the seemingly normal artist, who just happens to kill her patrons after sex...who Anthony quickly becomes entangled with in a deadly game of cat and mouse. If you like your porn hot, nasty and layers, Wetwork is your film. With 3 anals, a beautiful San Francisco location, and the budget of a mainstream film, this is Eli Cross at his best... and it doesn't get any better than that.” Here’s a brief look at the scenes by cast and action, noting that no condoms were used for those still interested:

Scene One: Eva Karera, one of the biggest busted brunettes from Belgium you will find in the industry, was up first as a high priced call girl, Stephen St. Croix entering her hotel room as a “very important client” that likes rough sex. She handed him a drink and took off her robe, her black lingerie outlining her curvy figure as she kept eye contact and caressed herself with a come hither look to him. He whispered to her and ran his hand on her crotch, kissing her and sucking her nipples as she felt him up too. He choked her with a belt and fingered her neatly trimmed pussy, gobbling her gash briefly before she slobbed his knob aggressively, throating him to the bone before applying some hand to gland friction. He pounded her pussy and then ass as she enjoyed the ride, rubbing herself to an orgasm and engaging in some taste testing between positions. It ended when he doused her entire torso with his semen, her tight body draining his dragon in heated fashion courtesy of their chemistry.

Scene Two: Penny Pax, the shapely young redhead featured on the front cover, was up next with art patron Ritchie Calhoun, his jovial enthusiasm regarding her artistic talents leading him from going beyond just buying most of her works to leaving her gallery showing to engage in some carnal activities in a pricy loft. They drank some wine and she was soon jumping on top of him, her sexy body covered by a tight green dress and his suit complemented eccentrically enough with shitty sneakers to make them an odd pairing indeed. As she mounted him to give a kiss, her dress slid up to reveal her skimpy white thong riding up her sweet ass cheeks, Penny soon on her kneels inhaling his turgid rod actively while giving him excellent eye contact. She used some hand to gland action to excite him further and took his length all the way to his balls, her nut nuzzling completing the oral before he reciprocated on her bald beaver, her active vaginal riding and taste testing soon milking his balls dry as she beat him off to explode on her upper torso before the feature elements came into play.

Scene Three: Claire Robbins, playing the drunken roommate, was up next with Derrick Pierce, the bitchy character bringing him home from the club, or so she thought. After some brief verbal banter, they were kissing and all over one another, Claire looking like she wanted to be with the bad boy as they moved to the bed to continue warming up. He savored her all natural boobs and held her down as he knelt between her spread legs, her elevated respiration rate climbing higher as he settled in to go down on her. This included some fingering and she gave good eye contact as she established a connection with him, her fleshy ass appealing to him as well. When his pants came down, her eyes lit up and she immediately started blowing him to the bone, tearing up a little but handling him in a passionate fashion in stark contrast to some of her more recent work. This led to some active vaginal riding, her tits shaking rapidly in missionary and her juicy ass doing likewise when she was on top of him. Derrick then played with her ass a little to ready her for his pecker porking her precious pucker, the man nailing her rapidly as she moaned in pleasure with her ass in the air and head down on the bed. A little more anal plowing led him to coating her breast with sperm, some feature elements accelerating the plot taking place from there.

Scene Four: Penny Pax, dressed all up in black, form fitting street attire, was then paired up with Stephen St. Croix, his search leading him to dive into her ass orally. She traded placed to inhale his cock even more aggressively than she worked Ritchie in the prior scene, the beefy boner thrilling her as she coated it completely with saliva. He held her hair and she stroked him while continuing to prove why her oral efforts are always worth special attention, Stephen looking hairy as could be while she throated him in different angles. The couple then fucked like it was prom night, Penny bouncing on his cock rapidly regardless of position, the vaginal hammering eliciting her moans in believable fashion in a multitude of penetrative positions, Stephen pushed over the edge until nutting on her tits.

Scene Five: Kimberly Kane, Penny Pax, and Danny Wylde, were up next in bed after leaving the dance club. Both ladies were dressed in skimpy black attire, the gals double teaming him orally before he started vaginally hammering Penny while Kim sat on her lucky face. The ladies continued on each other in a 69 while Danny boned them, Kim’s perky ass as sexy as ever as he boned it like he owned it while Penny licked her quaking boobs near her mouth. Penny then slid to gobble Kim’s gash as Danny porked Kim, Penny cleaning him off orally before offering up her ass as a target for his affection pecker. The ladies were as good as expected and Danny did a much better job than usual, his manly fluids deposited on Kim’s ass as Penny licked at the seed, sharing it with Kim before they were done.

Summary: Wetwork by director Eli Cross for Vivid Entertainment was one of this season’s sleepers until it appeared on the radars of both XBiz and AVN’s nomination lists, the movie holding its own against sentimental features, episodic serials, and other productions being hailed by the unknowing as “the best of the best”. The acting was credible, the technical aspects superior to most, and the sexual encounters passionate while part of the story rather than tacked on as you see elsewhere. The casting of leads Stephen St. Croix and Penny Pax worked very well so I join my colleagues Chris Thorne and Peter Warren who were quoted on the cover to rate this as Highly Recommended. In short, Wetwork worked as a whole rather than the sum of its parts as the kind of original creative feature we should see much more of but those parts were individually well handled too, a rarity in this day and age so check this one out to see why some very opinionated people found it so much fun to watch, and why it should win some awards.