Directed by Mark Neveldine. Starring Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Efrem Ramirez, Dwight Yoakam.Synopsis: An underworld hitman awakes to find he has been posioned with a designer drug that will kill him within hours. Desperate to stay alive, he finds that one way to slow the drug is to keep his adrenaline levels high, which he does to buy extra time to both avenge his own murder and hopefully find an antidote. Action/Adventure.
Crank is a "guy movie" action flick on a case of Red Bull. Outlandish plot, gratuitous violence, over-the-top chase scenes, and frivilous titillation at high volume.
In other words: count me in.
I have to admit, I loved every minute of this. Now, by that, I'm not trying to tell you that this is the best movie you will ever see, probably not even the best you've seen in the last six months. No, what I'm telling you is that Statham (Cellular) carries the movie very well as the lead and its a fun flick to watch.
Statham (Cellular) does a great job carrying this movie and, really, its all him, not the the supporting cast doesn't step up, particularly Dwight Yokam in his role as the fun loving doctor who is chilling in Las Vegas when he first receives the frantic call from his patient on how to stay alive with the designer poison coarsing through his veins.
The way to do that, is to keep the levels of adrenaline high and pumping, and we get to see a lot of cool, frantic, and blood pumping scenes of high activity: Statham running through the streets of L.A., treading water at a frenentic pace in the luxurious pool of a head mobster, swilling Red Bull continuosly, making a hilarious raid on a hospital for a shot(s) of adrenalin, and "making time" with his girlfriend (Amy Smart) outside in a public place with hundres of interested fans cheering them on...to name a few.
Now, I said the plot was outlandish, but that doesn't mean its not enjoyable (after all, we all loved Spiderman, right?). Basically, what Neveldine is doing here is taking the well worn "revenge" angle of the action movie genre and raising the level of action a few dozen notches by either bypassing completely or dealing with things such as backstory, witty dialogue, and the hero's "romance" angle at 100 mph. Because this is worked into the plot, we don't really miss them and the action and "shoot 'em up" fans among us don't feel guilty about not caring about what would normally be the slow points in a film because in Crank they are fast and entertaining.
This is a good flick that isn't anything other than what it is at its essence, an action flick for guys-and gals who want to look at Statham- whose goal is to give you an entertaining hour and a half. That's it. The film is not for everyone, but what flick is?
Leave a comment