Anyone who cut his gay baby teeth on Saturday matinee sword-and-sandals epics (which in their day showed more male skin than anything else on TV, except maybe "Tarzan" movies) will be aroused by this tale of gladiators who are willing to do anything to please the emperor, whether it's fight to the death or fuck him.
HBO's "Rome" ( http://hbo.com/rome ) has pushed the envelope in this genre with its rather startling (if accurate) depictions of full-frontal male nudity and orgiastic sex in the ancient realm, but they've got nothing on director Csaba Borbély, who shows macho warriors in mock combat on the proving ground that often leads to screwing each other's brains out -- a far preferable way to go, if you ask me. Settings and costuming are amazingly elaborate, even if the tunics that the Romans wore under their leather and metal breastplates are omitted entirely here. It's a nice plus for those of us who spent many hours trying to catch a glimpse of what was hidden under them, mostly to no avail, on those Saturday movie showings.
The gladiators spend some time under the very watchful eye of Gino Francesco, who as Caesar not only picks them to fight in the arena but who also weighs whether their talents could be put to better use outside it. Assisting him in this task is his lover, Austin Rogers, whose fine eye is just as discerning as Caesar's.
Until the great emperor arrives, much goes on between these studs that (if he only knew!) prepares them better for that "other" use of their abilities. The opening scene has a couple of guards, Kevin Cage and Breno Lopes, forgetting their posts long enough to smooch on the parapet of the fortress. Luckily, this isn't the moment that the Gauls choose to attack. Their superior officer, Andreas Harris, notices that the guards are derelict in their duties and calls them down for it. He does this not to chastise them for making the fort unsafe, but because they didn't include him in their sex play. Performing the scene on what looks like a wooden gallows complete with trap door, the three-way action is sizzling, and the trap door provides angles of the fucking that are creative and visually stunning. There's a well-hung joke to be made here -- but no, it's far too easy. The finale has all three studs spewing huge loads that land with a splat right on the screen, captured in such tight close-up that I swear I could see the little sperms' tails wiggling.
Claudio Antonelli, who seems to be exploring his power bottom side, figures prominently in the next two scenes. In the first, Claudio has been rather humiliatingly defeated on the training ground; then, Claudio explores his masochistic side by imagining that one of the gladiators who humbled him (the extremely well endowed Santino McKenna) gets take his spoils by delving into the depths of Claudio's very receptive mouth and ass. Much of the action is shot in a sunny, grassy field with a beautiful stone building as the backdrop, and truly, sex between men has never looked quite so classically wrought. Near the end, the lovers move to one of the stone parapets, which looks uncomfortable as hell for Claudio, but looks great, who's being fucked missionary style on it, but the finale proves that Claudio has been anything but inconvenienced and he produces a very large load of cum.
Back in the real world, Claudio sits down to a noonday meal (see, if his bottoming fantasy had been real, the sitting on a hard bench part right after would have been much more difficult) with comrades Helmut Müller and Enrique Gardinelli. This time, the action isn't imaginary, and this time Claudio takes the top and bottom roles equally well, as does his hunky cohort Enrique. Enrique provides the highlight of the entire three-way, lying flat on the cleared picnic table, offering up his ass and mouth as a very tempting dessert to Helmut and Claudio. By the scene's end, it is dark outside, and the cream whipped up by these studs is thick and luscious indeed, but Enrique's huge globs of take the cake.
Dick James, a gorgeous black man, is a winner with a lean body, dark brown skin, handsome face, and a mammoth cock that rises to the occasion when he spies some action going on in a nearby room. Dick's solo makes him so weak in the knees that he has to hold on to a ledge as he's doing it, or maybe he just gets dizzy every time he gets an erection, because it obviously takes a lot of blood for him to get an erection. His cum rains down in such great volume that it pools at the base of his thick cock, coating his shaven pubic area with a lake of sperm.
Caesar (Gino) and his lover (Austin) arrive to inspect the troops, and Caesar takes an immediate liking to Glenn Santoro. But what to do with the ol' ball and chain? Caesar wastes no time dropping a Roman-era roofie into his cup, and before you know it, Austin has wandered away and gotten busy with a couple of guards (Alfredo Castaldo and Breno). The two guards and Austin are all naked in a flash (seriously, those Gauls should have planned better), and the scene has some absolutely stunning shots of Austin and Breno tag-team fucking Alfredo's adorably freckled ass. The action is made all the more impressive by the fact that Alfredo is resting on a very high stone ledge that makes for a stunning setting. The climax has Alfredo sitting on the same ledge and taking a well-deserved break from being fucked senseless by his buddies, jacking off as he watches them deliver impressive pop-shots, creaming each other's closely-trimmed pubes. Alfredo then loses it, and his white stuff explodes as he works the foreskin back and forth over his erection.
In the finale, Gino gets his gladiator (was there ever any doubt?). Glenn's ultra-handsome face is winning in a shot of him licking his emperor's hairy balls, but it is Gino who actually gets it in his end, from behind as Glenn slams into his very receptive hole. Gino's prowess as both an athlete and his voraciousness as a bottom make one of the final positions jaw-dropping. He suspends himself just over Glenn's cock using his hands and feet, and Glenn fucks his hole from underneath. They end with Gino and Glenn giving each other mutual handjobs, bringing it all to a hot, wet, climax.
The coda teases us with the promise of more adventure for Caesar and his companion, tiring of the countryside, the two have an idea that they might try Egypt. Watch out, Cleo, honey, the boys are back in town.
DVD features: Chapters; gallery; trailers ("Captured," "Str8 Off the Base" and "Desperate Husbands"); no regional coding (playable worldwide).
A DVD Review by Martin Cox