Crank Se (2006)

Action anti-hero Jason Statham is competing with himself to make the most relentless, non-stop action flick imaginable. In Crank, Statham stars as a hit man named Chev Chelios who's been poisoned by some Chinese toxin; the only way to stave it off is to keep his adrenalin flowing, which requires him to drive at top speeds through crowded traffic, start fights in bars, and run pell-mell down hospital corridors while wearing one of those humiliating smocks that tie in the back. In other words, Crank is high-end pop-trash, filled with many preposterous/ingenious stunts and over-the-top performances (Dwight Yoakam, Sling Blade, is downright droll as a doctor offering Chev assistance), marred by an unpleasant attitude towards women (Amy Smart, Outside Providence, will not look back on this as one of her signature roles). This is a movie for the audience who enjoyed Transporter and Transporter 2 but wanted Statham's perpetual scowl to become a kind of theatrical mask, a perpetual signifier of intensity that begs--nay, demands--that everything around it rise to a mutual level of absurdity. Fans of Luc Besson (Leon/The Professional, District 13) will find Crank to be simpatico. --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com

A real blast!

Jason Statham is on top form here. This is great entertainment, full of surprises, great (& some very funny) scenes as well as a lot of surprising ideas, for when Statham's hitman has to keep his pulse well up to prevent himself from dying of poison.

A surprisingly enjoyable film - top stuff! November 30, 2008

Kill Bill meets Speed

I had no idea what to expect from this movie. My husband had seen reviews, but all I knew was that it had Jason Statham in it--which is an excellent selling point.

From the very beginning, it was a bit "artsy." Quick cuts, odd camera angles, speeding up, slowing down. Sometimes this works, sometimes it's just annoying. This time, it worked.

Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) is an assassin, and his rival has injected him with a poison. The only thing keeping him alive is keeping his heart rate up--Chev figures this out on his own, by the way, which I liked, and it was confirmed later by his doc friend.

So he's on a quest to 1) save himself, if possible, 2) protect his girlfriend, and 3) get back at the rival who's killing him.

It's fast-moving, extremely violent, and surprisingly funny in spots. The... (I need to learn some film vocabulary--maybe take a beginning film class or something to learn the words for various effects) cinematic effects kept the tension high, and showed visually how the character was feeling.

In addition, the soundtrack was amazing. It was loaded with pop songs from a variety of musical genres and eras, and every single song fit its scene perfectly. I know music is supposed to be a part of a film, to help evoke moods, but this soundtrack was practically a character in itself.

And of course, you have Jason Statham, who's perfect in the role--cold-blooded killer, patient and sweet with his girlfriend (Amy Smart, who was nicely subtle as a woman whose boyfriend has just told her he's an assassin--she wasn't the bimbo I'd have expected, nor did she steal her scenes).

It's kind of like... Kill Bill meets Speed. Stylized violence, comic effects, and non-stop action. The premise is a little hard to swallow, but I didn't have any time to dwell on it before I got yanked into the action.

One thing it's not, is for kids. Way too much violence. It earned its R rating.

The DVD is make a good addition to our collection. November 26, 2008

A hardcore classic!

First of all lets get one thing out of the way, Crank surely entertains. Here Jason Statham's performance doesn't disappoint playing hitman Chev Chelios whos being poisined by an injected with a virus known as "The Beijing Cocktail" that will explode his heart if its rate drops too low. Amy Smart is good too in a minimalist role. His movie is fast paced and very entertaining from start to finnish with plenty of scenes which are quite enjoyable. Statham brings back his talent which was demonstrated in the Transport.

The direction and stunts to this action classic have been done terrifically. However this film won't be everyone's cup of tea and will be criticized by many by being too unrealistic and plain stupid. I quite enjoyed this film and really is a hardcore action classic which truly delivers in its genre. October 31, 2008

Not much to recommend

I like several others had high hopes for this movie. Jason Statham is awesome, and Amy Smart is usually very good, so I thought this would be a winner.

The most annoying aspect to me was the way the camera jumped around, and went into this fast forward, jerky mode. That coupled with the music gave me quite a headache. I understand it was all meant to mimic the racing heart of the "hero" but it was really overdone.

The action was not on par with the Transporter movies, and the humor was not on par with Snatch.

The plot was rather confusing, why was he poisoned again? You don't really end up caring about any of the characters, which made it hard to get into the movie.

Overall this was a disappointment, any other of Jason Statham's movies would be a better pick. October 11, 2008

90 minutes about nothing (spoilers)

I happen to like Jason Statham. He's a good action flicks actor and, by that standard, The two Transporters were quite good. But, let's discuss this specific one.

The plot: Jason's character is poisoned by some 'bad' guy and he can only stay alive for as long as his adrenaline level is up. If he calms down, he dies. To keep his excitement level up he does all kinds of crazy things such as driving his car through a shopping mall, robbing stores, cutting some bad guy's arm before killing him completely or 'mounting' his girlfriend in... China Town. Then, he dies and the movie ends.

The good, relatively speaking: Jason Statham is shown shooting people, driving cars, having sex in public, running. There are funny moments like Jason's smashing some bad guy's face into a public phone while his girlfriend is completely unaware of the dangerous situation or the public sex scene where dozens of people watch and cheer.

The bad: not exactly exciting car chases, not A LOT of shooting, only one arm is cut.

The confusing: while Jason is supposed to be 'good', it looks like he too is involved with the bad guys. It's not clear why he gets poisoned or why he is not as bad as the other bad guys.

Overall: I almost fell asleep while watching this super-charged action movie. Completely forgettable. October 9, 2008

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