Bound by Desire: Act 1 - A Leap of Faith

Bound by Desire is a two-part porn feature, getting off to an interesting set-up in this beginning 90-minute edition, but crapping out in Act II.

It investigates the notion of submission, a topic made popular by the "50 Shades" novels and especially in the XXX work of Jacky St. James. There's no script credit listed on this Jim Powers-directed project, but it has the virtue of questioning, at least at first, the justification for young women becoming sex slaves to dominant men, rather than the usual glorification of the practice.

Chanel Preston stars as a veteran of the process, who seemingly has the upper hand with her smug husband Evan Stone, even though she ostensibly follows his bidding as far as sex and wife-sharing goes. Sense of conflict is expressed by younger fellow slaves Allie Haze and especially newbie Casey Calvert, who enjoy the "freedom" of letting go and following their husbands' wishes blindly, but not without second thoughts.

Besides the usual BDSM trappings, Powers wisely emphasizes straight sex for his mainstream audience. He even throws in a "how the other half lives" sex scene featuring blonde Kimmy Olsen and Danny Wylde to contrast with the dom/sub action.

Of special interest is a very strong scene featuring Lesbian icon Elexis Monroe, doing boy/girl action with the best of them. An attractive starlet Teal Evans is sort of lost in the shuffle as an adjunct to Allie's scene with her dom husband Richie Calhoun.

I was glad to see a screen acting credit for the easily identifiable John (Cry Baby) Wilkes, a regular fixture both before and behind the camera in the features of Nica Noelle - he's the white-haired waiter given just a few seconds of screen time.