Conquest (1996 Video) User Reviews

It's way better than Renny Harlin's Cutthroat Island!

[Valmont74 · 6/10 · 2 July 1999]

This erotic pirate adventure feature some well choreographed sword fights, big scale pirate ships and, well, some really erotic XXX-scenes.

This is a "big budget porno" and you can almost see the money invested, not just in the sex scenes, but in the look and feel of the picture. Director's Brad Armstrong and Greg Steel have certainly gone to extreme length in creating an XXX-rated feature that (with exception from the XXX-scenes) feels like a major studio production and the result is very good indeed. It works both as a porno (which it is, not matter the artistic intentions) and as a pirate film. It blows Renny Harlin's Cutthroat Island away just in the opening credits! (Did I mention, this one has a nice Enigma-esque score too!)

The acting is better than the usual porno standards and leading man Vince Vouyer does his best delivering his lines and still can keep focused at his "main task" in the movie. Leading actress Jenna Jameson might never receive an Academy Award, but she makes up for it just looking sexy and doing what she, erm, does best.

The big treat if you get this on DVD is a very good "making of" with interviews from directors', cast and even some footage of the sword fighting practise and picking of wardrobe. Everyone is relaxed and seem to be enjoying themself (who wouldn't?) and Jenna Jameson is very talkative and funny.

This ain't Braveheart, but see this one if you're in for a great XXX-pirate adventure!

Disappointing

[willpak · 6/10 · 9 October 2003]

Watched Conquest last night and while it had some good stuff going on, Jenna getting down and dirty, Tom Bryon's salty seadog, Asia Carrera's Island hottie and Juli Ashton's pirate treats, overall it wasn't very satisfying. It's certainly lavish, by porno standards, but I found the camera work flat, most scenes under lit (A big porno no no, in my book) and some of the worst camera angles, I suppose, masquerading as style. All these aesthetic choices somewhat killed the erotic intensity of what looked like being an interesting, sexy movie.

I commend the efforts off all concerned, I liked the fact they played it pretty much straight, very little comedy, and the Gregorian chanting worked quite well (even if it was post 1700s).

Worth a look, others reviewers seem to like it, but I'd recommend renting.

Loved it!

[thompsontalent · 10/10 · 1 February 2006]

I was on the film set, and had the pleasure of meeting the stars and training them to fight. I was pleased to see they included a behind the scenes section with the sword lessons, and interviews. Everyone looked relaxed, without makeup, and we were just being ourselves. Jenna had a small injury and learned that swords can be dangerous! All in all it was the best set, and biggest budget I've seen for a porno. The quality comes out in the finished product, and girls LOVE the story with the pirates. Look for the pirate who falls off the boat in green pants...that's me! I actually got to lick Jenna's face, mate! My boots filled with water and nearly drowned me, and the water was freezing! I just couldn't wait to make another movie with Brad Armstrong, so we did another pirate movie called Eternity last year. I hope you all enjoy the films. ...Wayne

Back when Adult Cinema was in flower

[lor_ · 9 September 2019]

This excellent early feature by Brad Armstrong, during his collaboration with Greg Steelberg, is significant for its ambition and execution: no less that a big-budget Adult movie that plays like a real film. Adam & Eve Productions co-produced the picture with Wicked Pictures, and a decade later would make a blockbuster with for reportedly 10 times the budget here, for Digital Playground: "Pirates".

Unlike the DP film and its sequel "Stagnetti's Revenge", "Conquest" is not about costly special effects, but instead a traditional pirate swashbuckler adventure, with Vince Vouyer perfectly cast in the lead as Calico Jack Ransom, captain of a pirate vessel. Filming with a real-looking full-scale ship is key to the movie's success.

Of course it is the XXX content that sets this apart from those fun G-rated genre pictures of mainstream Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s. Jenna Jameson in the lead was the great star of her decade, and is paired ably with beautiful Shayla LaVeaux as unlikely cabin boys who stowaway on Vouyer's ship courtesy of his mate Alex Sanders. Everyone is out for revenge, and Brad himself does a good job as the villain, a British aristocrat assigned to capture Calico Jack.

Convinicng sword fights and derring-do give the movie action scenes largely absent from more recent Adult movies that have tried to crossover, including a number of large-scale Armstrong features for Wicked made in the following decade or so, though budgets have now shrunk drastically with the decline of the DVD market. To say they don't make 'em like "Conquest" anymore is an understatement.