Film Reviews

Crank: High Voltage

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Amy Smart
• Details: US/96mins (18)

If you get one thing from this crazy, even more hyperactive follow up to the surprise Jason Statham hit, it will be a new found respect for Statham himself. Not that the gruff cockney ventures to lofty thespian heights with this one, but he really does go all out here, as does his beautiful co-star Amy Smart - what these two do on screen is still outlawed in some American States. The film itself is what would happen if a 14 year old boy was peeled away from Grand Theft Auto for two hours, dared to drink four litres of red bull, and then told to go and write a script. That basically means boobs, sex, violence, copious amounts of needless (but often amusing) cursing and the occasional cameo from a famous rock star.
The brilliant tagline pretty much says it all: "He was dead. But he got better." Chev survives the fall from the helicopter at the end of the first film, and is almost immediately taken prisoner by some revenge seeking triads. After they replace his heart with an artificial battery powered pump, Chev must continually charge his "strawberry tart" with whatever form of electricity he can find; charger cables, resuscitation paddles, and good old fashioned human friction, which all - at different points - give him the momentary lift he needs to track down his ticker, and off the bad guys. As you may have guessed, the plot here is used as an excuse by Taylor and Neveldine to put as many out-and-out mental things on screen as they could, and for the first forty five minutes or so it works really well. Then, self-indulgence takes over, and you begin to notice just how utterly ridiculous certain things are. At one point a fight scene descends into a Godzilla-like brawl with bad prosthetics, and a random character returns from the first film for an elongated sequence that feels like it was included as a private joke.

While undoubtedly all over the shop, you get the feeling that, like with the first film, that is kind of the point. Statham is always watchable, and really embraces the role with both hands once more - it's fair to say the man earns every penny of that pay cheque. Chev Chelios is a fun part, and he plays it with his usual flippant, quip-ridden style. A little more restraint from the directors and this could've been even more of a good time, but something tells me these guys wouldn't know subtlety if it beat them to within an inch of their life. Oh the irony...

Review by Mike Sheridan