← Back to Reviews
in
Crank (Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor)
"Crank Tries It's Best To Inject Life Into The Dead Action Films"
Chev Chelios, a hit-man, wakes up in his room and sees a disc. Upon playing it he discovers that he has been injected with a Chineese poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops too much. Now, he must keep his adrenaline up in order to exact his revenge on those who poisoned him. Creating havoc in the streets is the only way for him to survive.
The concept of Crank seems like a brainless, action film that would have no plot what so ever and bad dialogue. Crank is exactly that, but manages to have fun with the action formula at the same time. Crank takes the old 90's action films, and video games such as Grand Theft Auto and throws it into high gear in under 90 minutes. It's safe to assume that you won't be expecting Crank to win Best Picture at the Oscar's next year and if you go into the film with an open mind, you'll find it to be an enjoyable pleasure that is endless action after endless action. It's just too bad that the film's fast pace take away from the action.
Statham plays Chelios and is great for the part, even if it is basically a re-hash of every other character that he does. With stars like Arnold, Sly and Bruce taking a leave from the action genre, it appears that Statham is the next in line to take over. I stated, back when The Transporter came out, that Statham was to be added to the list of names for the next top action star, on that list included Vin Diesel and The Rock. With Crank, Statham manages to jump ahead of the pack, but that may also be credited to Diesel branching off into other directions, Find ME Guilty and The Pacifier. Along for the ride with Statham is Amy Smart, who plays the role of his girlfriend, who doesn't know that he's a hit-man. Smart serves as eye candy and is there basically for Statham to have sex with in the middle of Chinatown. It's to keep his adrenaline up, I swear.
The dialogue is pretty bad, one only has to listen to a line like "Don't pop a blood vessel you little penis." to start rolling their eyes. Statham is either spitting out bad dialogue or is yelling at objects and people. To accompany this bad dialogue is the lack of a plot. Other then the fact that Statham has been injected with poison and wants to have revenge, there is nothing else in the film. Of course there is the clichéd hit-man wants to leave the game for his girlfriend bit, but it comes out of nowhere and the film goes nowhere with it.
The film is juvenile with it's humour, having Statham have a boner because of the shot of adrenaline he took. Crank also has some pretty random comedic parts, such as having c*nt written on Statham for head in one scene and in the last minute of the film, which is basically a parody of the never ending falling you always seem to see in action films. Crank's pace is really fast and it ends fairly quickly, because of this non of the action sticks in your mind as anything special. It doesn't seem as big as it could have been, or wanted to be. Crank is too condensed in it's short time span that the action seems to little, even if that's all the film is about. With no particular scene sticking out in my mind as explosive, the build up to the so called climax leaves us wanting more. The climax of Crank isn't as big as the audience would want it to be and after all the action and build up the first 80 minutes has the last few feels like it's full of hot air.
Crank could have been a great action film that was one big explosive scene after the next, but it falls an inch short of that and ends up becoming a joke at certain points. The film is all good and fun indeed, but near the end the fun dwindles away and leaves an empty feeling. All in all it's a something that you can enjoy and possibly have a good time with, but make sure your brain is at home.
7/10
"Crank Tries It's Best To Inject Life Into The Dead Action Films"
Chev Chelios, a hit-man, wakes up in his room and sees a disc. Upon playing it he discovers that he has been injected with a Chineese poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops too much. Now, he must keep his adrenaline up in order to exact his revenge on those who poisoned him. Creating havoc in the streets is the only way for him to survive.
The concept of Crank seems like a brainless, action film that would have no plot what so ever and bad dialogue. Crank is exactly that, but manages to have fun with the action formula at the same time. Crank takes the old 90's action films, and video games such as Grand Theft Auto and throws it into high gear in under 90 minutes. It's safe to assume that you won't be expecting Crank to win Best Picture at the Oscar's next year and if you go into the film with an open mind, you'll find it to be an enjoyable pleasure that is endless action after endless action. It's just too bad that the film's fast pace take away from the action.
Statham plays Chelios and is great for the part, even if it is basically a re-hash of every other character that he does. With stars like Arnold, Sly and Bruce taking a leave from the action genre, it appears that Statham is the next in line to take over. I stated, back when The Transporter came out, that Statham was to be added to the list of names for the next top action star, on that list included Vin Diesel and The Rock. With Crank, Statham manages to jump ahead of the pack, but that may also be credited to Diesel branching off into other directions, Find ME Guilty and The Pacifier. Along for the ride with Statham is Amy Smart, who plays the role of his girlfriend, who doesn't know that he's a hit-man. Smart serves as eye candy and is there basically for Statham to have sex with in the middle of Chinatown. It's to keep his adrenaline up, I swear.
The dialogue is pretty bad, one only has to listen to a line like "Don't pop a blood vessel you little penis." to start rolling their eyes. Statham is either spitting out bad dialogue or is yelling at objects and people. To accompany this bad dialogue is the lack of a plot. Other then the fact that Statham has been injected with poison and wants to have revenge, there is nothing else in the film. Of course there is the clichéd hit-man wants to leave the game for his girlfriend bit, but it comes out of nowhere and the film goes nowhere with it.
The film is juvenile with it's humour, having Statham have a boner because of the shot of adrenaline he took. Crank also has some pretty random comedic parts, such as having c*nt written on Statham for head in one scene and in the last minute of the film, which is basically a parody of the never ending falling you always seem to see in action films. Crank's pace is really fast and it ends fairly quickly, because of this non of the action sticks in your mind as anything special. It doesn't seem as big as it could have been, or wanted to be. Crank is too condensed in it's short time span that the action seems to little, even if that's all the film is about. With no particular scene sticking out in my mind as explosive, the build up to the so called climax leaves us wanting more. The climax of Crank isn't as big as the audience would want it to be and after all the action and build up the first 80 minutes has the last few feels like it's full of hot air.
Crank could have been a great action film that was one big explosive scene after the next, but it falls an inch short of that and ends up becoming a joke at certain points. The film is all good and fun indeed, but near the end the fun dwindles away and leaves an empty feeling. All in all it's a something that you can enjoy and possibly have a good time with, but make sure your brain is at home.
7/10