They did this in another movie but that time it was a bus. This time it’s an actual human being who can’t drop his heart below a certain speed. He has to keep cranked up so that he can revenge himself on those that made him a walking dead man.
Crank is a fun, visual ride that goes well with a bucket of popcorn.
Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) awakens in his apartment with a huge headache. It only gets worse when he watches the DVD that basically tells him that he’s screwed. Verona (Jose Pablo Cantillo) tells him, on the DVD, that he’s given him a concoction called the “Beijing cocktail” and that he’s basically got an hour to live. Chev gets on the cell phone with Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam) and finds out that if his heart rate drops below a certain rate that he’s toast.
Chev uses many unconventional methods to keep the Beijing cocktail from taking him down
So he’s off to the races to find ways to keep the ole’ ticker pumping at a high rate. He’s got two pieces of unfinished business. First he wants to get in touch with his girl Eve (Amy Smart) to make amends with her and second he was to find Verona and kill him to death.
Crank is a cross with the classic D.O.A. (1950) and Speed. Instead of a bus this time it’s a man who can’t drop below a certain speed (or at least his heart rate). This leads to all sorts of crazy situations designed to keep his heart pumping. Doc suggest that he goes to an emergency room and get some epinephrine which leads him to the pharmacy and hospital asking for “epi-something” (I kept wanting to tell him not to ask for a sedi-give.).
This also leads to Chev having the ability, since he’s a dead man already, to not care about his well-being and is able to set that aside and go for broke as he tries to complete his final tasks. Since he also has little time to accomplish those tasks he’s not willing to wait around for conventional means to get information. This leads to a lot of gunplay, car chases, car crashes, action, deaths (besides our walking dead man), and a bit of public display of affection in Chinatown (forget it Chev, it’s just Chinatown).
Crank is action packed but it is also a popcorn movie. In other words, turn off your brain and enjoy the camera tricks and outrageous action, violence, and sex. If you try and think about it too much then you’ll not enjoy yourself. The film is full of trick camera angles, split screen, and a cornucopia of other visual tricks. The directors are former visual effects guys so they want to cram as many of those into the film as they can. Crank is a fun 87 minutes if you don’t think about it too much.
Chev doesnt care much for his personal safety since he's a dead man
Crank is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The box says 2.35:1 but this is incorrectly listed on the back of the box and 1.85:1 is the correct aspect ratio for the film.
Special features include a running “documentary” that you can access via “crank’d out mode.” What this does is pops up some picture-in-picture boxes throughout the movie. A series of interviews, commentaries with the directors, star, etc., and behind the scenes footage pop up in those boxes. This allows you watch the movie and special features at the same time. This can be a good thing and it could be a bad thing since smaller televisions might not have a good view of the documentaries in the boxes.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a way to access this stuff unless you’re in “crank’d mode.” The other extra is a strange one. They’ve included a “family friendly” audio track that replaces all the expletives with silly alternatives.
This family friendly version only applies to the audio only and the same R-rated visuals appear in this “family friendly” version. There’s a 3 minute music video called “Adrenalina” by David Rolas and trailers for other Lionsgate DVDs.
Eve is confused about her boyfriend's strange behavior
Crank is a fun, visual ride that goes well with a bucket of popcorn. Avoid taking a Beijing cocktail with it or thinking too much about it and you might have a good time. I enjoyed the ride and think that if you turn off you brain and go along for it that you’ll have a good time too.
Crank is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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