(Left: Nicole Oring; Top: Paris Kennedy; Right: Akira Lane)
This time, they appear together in a quirky but spirited punching bonanza from USCWF World Championship Division, one of the current video venues operated by belly punching veterans Markus and Candace (the latter being a BP performer turned producer). Markus made a name for himself in the punching world in the 1990s with a number of slugging matches he scripted for DT Wrestling and eventually for his own body punching production shop, MWO Films. Markus' DT scripts and MWO matches were among the early vanguard of truly specialized videos dedicated exclusively to a singular passion for punching.
I remember being delighted to first discover fem-fight bouts in which punching was not an incidental element sprinkled sparingly within a larger sea of tactics (this was back when VHS tapes made scanning for the parts of a match you liked a real chore), but instead punching in these matches was the appetizer, the salad, the main course, and the dessert! Nonstop, undiluted, unapologetically narrow body punching videos was a specialty niche Markus inhabited and helped to define before many other producers caught on that there was a real fan base for such material. I am glad that Markus has stuck to his same basic vision for all-out slugfests after all these years. Along the way, he has brought some of the best and most beautiful performers in the business into hardcore punchland, an impressive feat.
That said, Markus has always had a few Achilles' heels in his video-making style, and it's a bit disappointing that in all these years, he hasn't managed to address them. Firstly, Markus has a penchant for wanting to get in front of the camera and be one of the performers in his videos. I can't really blame him for wanting to get in the mix and be part of his own fantasy creations, but unfortunately, Markus has neither the physical presence nor the acting skills to really pull it off, so it's usually just a huge distraction to have him pop into view during what otherwise might have been a great slugging scene.
But more importantly, Markus is simply not a strong cinematographer (or director, if someone else is shooting the footage for him). The production values are almost always very low, with good performances from the ladies often being marred by poor lighting, low-resolution video capture, bad editing, and downright sloppy camera work (in the current video, for instance, I count no less than 4 times when different people who happened to be loitering around the house where the video was being shot wound up accidentally in the camera's view during the fighting action; usually, the interlopers gave a sudden deer-in-the-headlights look and darted away, but even their fleeting presence on screen just makes the whole video seem like such an utterly amateur production). The performers and the actual slugging content of Markus' videos can be truly superlative, but it's a bummer that he hasn't made the effort to improve the technical aspects of his video-making craft in all this time.
All of the above (the good and the bad) comes shining through in "Super Spies--The Beginning."
First, the good: Um, so like, did I mention Paris Kennedy, Nicole Oring, and Akira Lane??? These are absolute A-listers, and it's brilliant to have them all together in a slugging melee! Paris Kennedy, in particular, has an exceptional physique for punching (slim but curvy, fit but still slightly soft-appearing, cute-as-can-be navel, and naturally stacked bustline), and her face is as pretty as her body is hot. Paris has a solid, clearly practiced punching style, but as good as she is at dishing it out, Paris is even better on the receiving end, where she absolutely nails all the right bodily reactions and facial expressions befitting a well-punched lass. Paris definitely gets it!
Nicole Oring and Akira Lane also are great performers. They both have somewhat distinctive looks that I suppose either work for you or don't. They both also display a lot of energy in their performances, although I personally like Akira better as a puncher. Akira has a very aggressive, scrappy punching style that makes her seem like she'd be a really tough streetfighter, and it's always a great show to watch Akira throw down on a sexy victim's body. Nicole, on the other hand, has a slightly peculiar way of starting every punch with an exaggerated windmill windup--it's fine once or twice, but it begins to look a bit silly to me when she does it every single time. I guess it's her signature thing, and maybe some people like it. I do think Nicole pulls off some very nice reactions on the receiving end, though.
The plot of the current video is pretty thin, but it's adequate. Paris plays Silent Angel. It's not really clear who Silent Angel is or what she stands for, but Paris shows up to confront Mr. Black (Markus) while looking for his henchwoman, The Asian Assassin (Nicole Oring). Presumably, Silent Angel has some score to settle with The Asian Assassin, or maybe just wants to bring her to justice--it's never really explained. In an odd little interaction, Paris forces Mr. Black into submission by simply taking off her top and displaying her breasts to him. I don't know if Silent Angel's breasts are supposed to emit some visual superpower, or whether Mr. Black is just such a crazed breast lover that the mere sight of bare boobage renders him helpless, but for whatever reason, Mr. Black takes one look at Paris' hot mamas and drops to his knees to beg for mercy.
In the meantime, Nicole sneaks up and attacks Paris from behind with a prolonged crotch grab that somehow greatly weakens Silent Angel. With Paris now wobbly on her feet, The Asian Assassin sets about pounding fist after fist into Silent Angel's unprotected abs and chest. Paris takes the abuse while still standing in the middle of the floor, and although I normally prefer punching against a wall, Paris does such a brilliant job with her reactions that I really don't think I could have liked the action any better no matter where she was standing. Paris just rocks the victim role like nobody's business! Nicole, for her part, does a nice job changing up her tactics at a good pace, mixing in face punches, knee lifts, belly claws, tit squeezes, and nonstandard belly punches delivered from behind (see images below), all of which keeps the action fresh and interesting, despite the primary focus on body punching.
Now, although the action in this segment was great, the cinematography left something to be desired. The main problem was that the camera was shooting the girls against backgrounds with a lot of extreme light-dark contrasts caused by sunlight coming through windows or blinds behind them. As a result, the camera kept changing its exposure level, which made the apparent level of lighting on the girls go up and down--sometimes Paris and Nicole were a bit washed out because they were too bright (overexposed), and sometimes they were hard to see because they were too dark (underexposed). Look again at the series of pictures above, and notice how the level of lighting varies a great deal between images. All of the footage was also just a little blurry, which I think was simply because the camera lacked really good resolution (particularly in the low lighting), rather than a problem with the auto-focus. Either way, it was hard even finding frames of the video clear enough to be worth pulling out and capturing as still shots to post in this article--most individual frames were just too blurry to really appreciate the action.
The fight eventually moves to another part of the room, where Silent Angel manages (without a clear explanation of how) to turn the tide. Now, it's The Asian Assassin's turn to be on the receiving end of a beatdown, and in this segment all the action takes place against a wall, where Paris beats Nicole about the belly, breasts, face, and crotch with skillful relish.
At any rate, Tiger Lily bops Silent Angel upside the head from behind and drops her like a stone. Then Tiger Lily helps The Asian Assassin to her feet, and it's time for the third and final phase of the video to begin--a 2-on-1 beatdown of the divine Paris Kennedy!
Nicole and Akira drag Paris outside to a wrestling ring (it's never really explained why Mr. Black's hideout would have such a ring, but I guess for moments just like this! lol). After a scene cut, Paris suddenly is shown inside the ring trapped against the ropes--each of her arms is tied to the top rope with, like, 50 feet of heavy red twine (I guess Silent Angel has super-strength or something, so it took all that twine to keep her bound?). From here on, Paris never changes positions again. Tiger Lily and The Asian Assassin want to know where the rest of Silent Angel's buddies have their base of operations, and when Paris won't talk, Akira and Nicole proceed with an extended double-demolition of the helpless Silent Angel, which completes the video.
The 2-on-1 beatdown follows a set order of assault, which is conveniently (and cornily) spelled out at the beginning of the ring scene by Markus, who is back in his Mr. Black role and instructs his henchwomen as follows (and I quote): "Alright, girls, use every move you've got! First, destroy her breasts, then her stomach, then her pussy. Throw some face shots in just for the heck of it all throughout ... till she talks."
And that's exactly what Tiger Lily and The Asian Assassin do! :) Standing on opposite sides of Paris, the henchwomen simultaneously throw a long barrage of punches and claws at Silent Angel's breasts, then they move down to give the same treatment to her midsection (adding kicks to the mix), and finally they finish the job with similar treatment of Paris' crotch.
In general, the 2-on-1 action was effective, although I personally find the simultaneous punching to be less than the sum of its parts, because you can't really focus your attention everywhere at once to see how the punches are landing and how Paris' body is reacting to each girl's abuse. And as the viewer, continually having to dart your eyes around the screen to figure out which thing is most worth watching at any given second might be a bit distracting to some people--it was to me.
But on the whole, I found the slugging action in this video to be very well done and to have a good bit of variety (wall vs no wall, restrained vs unrestrained, 2-on-1 vs 1-on-1, apartment setting vs wrestling ring, Paris in charge vs Paris getting beat down, etc.). The best thing about the video is undoubtedly the trio of leading ladies and how well they execute most of the combat moves and deliver the right reactions. The worst things about the video had nothing to do with the girls, or even the script really--it was just an extremely amateur-feeling production because of the sloppy cinematography and because of Markus' totally superfluous but badly-acted cameos. The same punching action with higher production values would have been an easy A. But instead, through no fault of the girls, I must give a lower mark here, to leave room at the top for videos that actually get everything right, including solid video quality and good production values.
I hope Markus will continue doing what he's doing ... just a little better. :)
Grade: B
Buy "Super Spies--The Beginning"
from USCWF World Championship Division
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