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Crank
(originally
posted by Jamie Kelwick at his own site -- www.the-usher.com.)
When
hitman Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) wakes up, he feels sick
to his stomach. As his energy starts to drain away, he finds
a DVD with a message from his rival Verona (Jose Pablo Cantillo),
who tells him that there is poison running through his veins.
With
only hours to live, Chev sets out to kill Verona but as
he gets more and more angry he realises that it is adrenaline
that is keeping him alive. Now all he has to do is keep
his heart rate up by any means necessary and if a lot of
violence has to occur to do that, all the better, giving
him more time to find Verona.
When
it comes to naming a British action star you usually only
have the choice of one man and he is the actor playing that
suave and sophisticated secret agent but right now another
man is claiming that crown, Jason Statham.
After
making his name as a crafty cockney in the London gangster
comedies Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and
Snatch, Statham transformed himself into an action
star with the cult hit The Transporter. Suddenly
Hollywood took notice and Britain suddenly had its own version
of Bruce Willis, Jackie Chan and Steve McQueen all rolled
into one.
Where
The Transporter and its
sequel showed that Statham could be the consummate action
star, Crank takes him to a whole new level. Debut
writer/directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor transport
him into an almost video game-like world to pull of one
of those cinematic oddities, an action movie with a large
punch of comedy. Jackie Chan has been doing this for years
but Western stars have always struggled. Here it looks like
Statham and these creative debuting directors have finally
cracked it and even cranked it up a notch or two.
As a
hitman that sees the light, only to be poisoned by his fiercest
rival, Statham gets the chance to show his range as an actor
and an action star. While Chev Chelios might not get the
chance to be the deepest or most developed character in
movie history, Statham injects him with an overdose of adrenaline,
pushing the hitman to his limits so he can stay alive.
Add
to this fun performances from Amy Smart as Chev's slightly
dippy but loveable girlfriend, Efrem Ramirez as his gay
informant Kaylo and Cantillo as Chev's rival and would-be
murderer Verona and you have a cast that brings even more
to this already brilliant action flick.
The
plot is a simple one and mixes in many elements of films
that have come before. He has to keep his heart rate extremely
high to stay alive but it is the inventiveness of the script
and the performance of Jason Statham that make this a much
better film than it ever should have been.
Violence
isn't the only way Chev Chelios finds to keep his heart
rate up. With car and bike chases and a sex scene that will
definitely be remembered for a very long time, the film
is constantly inventing new ways for Chev to increase his
adrenaline rush.
The
style of the film complements the speed and action of the
film by making it like a big screen video game. Better than
any adaptation of an actual game, this is an extreme version
of the Grand
Theft Auto series, with the gangster elements,
hit men, car stealing, drugs and a lot of guns. Throw in
the use of Google Earth for the map sequences and a rotating
camera that takes you into the thick of the action, and
you have a film that has all of the hallmarks of what a
video game adaptation should be.
Crank
is one of the most creative action movies to come along
in a very long time, shooting the genre with a huge injection
of adrenaline.
Rating:
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