DVD Reviews
Crank 2: High Voltage – DVD Review
By Jeff Swindoll Sep 9, 2009, 14:37 GMT
In the 2006 action hit "Crank", hitman Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) spent 24 hours in over-drive: fighting, killing, and keeping his adrenaline flowing at full-force to combat a deadly poison injected into his body. Now, in the high-octane sequel "Crank 2: High Voltage", Chev has managed to survive and is about to face a brand new day. Picking up immediately where the first movie left off, "Crank 2: High Voltage" ...more
Chev Chelios takes a licking and keeps on ticking. That is until is ticker is stolen from him. Chev’s not a man to let this heartless act keep him from avenging himself and getting his cardiac organ back. He just has to do it before his battery runs down.
When we last left Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) he had been given a death sentence called the Beijing cocktail, fell from a helicopter, and was lying dead in the street. Or was he? His body is swiftly scooped up and his heart is taken out. He’s given an artificial heart to keep his body alive so that his organs can be harvested later.
However, Chev is not one to take that sort of indignity lying down and he gets out of his bed and kills his captors. A quick call to Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam) tells him that his artificial heart is powered by an external battery pack and when that one runs out the internal power will only keep the fake ticker pumping for another hour.
So now Chev has to track down his heart and get Doc to put it back into its original cavity. Along the way he’ll encounter the pierced gangster Johnny Vang (Art Hsu), a crazy hooker named Ria (Bai Ling), tattooed and grilled Chico (Joseph Julian Soria), his old “widowed” girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart), Kaylo’s brother Venus (Efren Ramirez) who has full body Tourette’s Syndrome, a lecherous, old geezer named Poon Dong (David Carradine), El Huron (Clifton Collins Jr. doing his best Speedy Gonzalez), and enemies old and new.
It might not have seemed like a sequel to Crank was possible, but here it is. It’s a mad, hyperkinetic, loony bin of a film and I loved every minute of it. Jason Statham has found his signature character in the indestructible Chev Chelios - of course he’s usually just playing Jason Statham in his roles.
The Crank films are ones that you’ll want to call Doc Miles about and have him take out your brain and keep it in a jar next to your chair in your home theater. He’s reasonably sure that he can put your brain back when you’re done watching the films.
I was watching on the laptop and the others in the room kept asking what I was cackling at. It may be just me, but the sequel seems to rely more on the comedy aspect than the first film did (may be that it’s been awhile since I’ve seen it).
Some of the characters are hyper-annoying (Bai Ling!) but at the center of it all is the fuming Chelios and he’s the beating artificial heart of the mad picture. I had a grand time, now I just have to have my brain put back. It’s a stylized, ADD, hyperkinetic masterpiece, just don’t think too hard about it or take it too seriously.
Crank 2 is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary by writer/directors Neveldine/Taylor and special guests. The 26 minute “Making of Crank 2” details how they made this mad, high voltage dash.
The 4 minute “Crank 2 Take 2” is about how they used guerilla filmmaking in making the film. Finally you get the 2 minute theatrical trailer and previews of other Lionsgate films. Disc two is a digital copy for your PC or portable device.
Crank 2 is a high voltage masterwork in the videogame inspired genre with Chev Chelios the indestructible avatar of the genre. I’d hate to see what body part that Chev might have removed on the third sequel but I look forward to seeing what Neveldine/Taylor has in mind for the poor chap.
Crank 2: High Voltage is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Sept. 14th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
