A "reimagining," as the Hollywood hipsters like to say, of 2004 AVN Best Video Feature co-victor Rawhide (it split the honor with Wicked Pictures' Beautiful in the category's only tie ever), Rawhide 2: Dirty Deeds places the story of that period piece in the present day ... and delivers something entirely more engaging, exciting and, well, Hollywood-esque.

Kayden Kross, in one of her last roles as an Adam & Eve contract star, takes on the central character (played in the original by then A&E girl Carmen Luvana) of a young woman grappling with the decision of whether to sell the sprawling ranch she inherited from her father. In this case, she's being pressured to do so by a delightfully nasty (both in her demeanor and her sexual dallyings) Bree Olson, herself heiress to a massive fortune with which she's bought up pretty much everything and everyone in town ... except, of course, Kayden and her ranch.

Evan Stone is the only returning cast member from volume one, but this time he crosses over to the antagonistic side of the tracks, as a corrupt sheriff on the dole from Bree to help make Kayden capitulate. Only problem is, he happens to be fucking Kayden, something Bree views as a severe conflict of interest. And given the explosive banging he and Kayden have on her living room sofa, Bree's concerns seem quite reasonable.

Meanwhile, drifter Tommy Gunn throws yet another wrench into both Bree and Evan's game plans when he takes a temporary gig as a hired hand for Kayden and a romance gradually blooms. Things get progressively more sinister, building to a climactic showdown of gunfire, arrows (yes, arrows) and hand-to-hand brawling that's completely first-rate in its execution.

And the sex! Aside from that aforementioned Kayden/Evan match-up, there are a couple more stellar boy/girl scenes: In one, Tony DeSergio throttles barmaid Nicole Ray atop the sink in her workplace bathroom; the other has Marcus London sticking it to AVN Female Performer of the Year Tori Black at night by a pool. The pièce de résistance, however, has to be the wailing girl/girl between Bree and megastar Jenna Haze.

Even if a few things about Rawhide 2 are a bit over the top (not only does Bree own every single business in these parts, "I got my hands into all the prostitution, gambling, drugs ... all that," she tells Tommy at one point), the direction, writing, acting and everything else are for the most part superb. Plus, the three-disc DVD set is a true collector's item, brimming with terrific extras including the first Rawhide on disc three. An early surefire contender for multiple AVN Awards in 2011.