Movie Review: Crank

By Anne Brodie Aug 31, 2006, 6:35 GMT

Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) is about to begin his morning with an unexpected wake-up call. Groggy, practically unable to move and with a heart that’s barely beating, Chev answers his cell phone and hears the voice of thug Ricky Verona, who reveals Chev has been poisoned in his sleep and has only an hour to live. As it turns out, Chev is a hit man who freelances for a major West ...more

Crank’ is visceral, pounding and urgent, a film heart attack waiting to happen. And stunts and storylines that are ever more outrageous earmark it for cult status among a very specific type of moviegoer.

Even though the noir classic ‘DOA’ and the film ‘Rage’, loosely inspire it, ‘Crank’ is contemporary, a riff on the drug culture that kills and enriches. It’s piercing and dangerous in ways that few films have achieved.
Leading underworld assassin Chev (Jason Statham) isn’t feeling so swell. He was drugged in his sleep and the perp has left him a present - a DVD showing him popping a needle in his neck and advising him on how long he has to live.

One hour!

Chev just has to keep moving. And he needs adrenaline, as much as he can create in his body, and as much as he can find elsewhere. And that means keeping stimulated.

That’s what makes this film so exciting. It is all about moving forward, no reflection, no moral dilemmas, no looking front or back and nothing else matters. He is on vengeance mission shielded by the reality that he can’t be killed twice.

There are many ways to get adrenalin.

There is driving fast, and into a shopping mall and up the escalator, for one.
There is public sex.

There is the robbing of pharmacies.

There is snorting cocaine off a bathroom floor in a skuzzy strip club.

There is the emergency phone call to the doctor who offers temporary life support, if he ever gets back to LA.

And there is still a short opportunity to hunt down and kill your enemies.

Your vision might be getting blurry but you’ve never been more focused.

You’re a lethal weapon.

The visual trickery is sly and even funny. Not only are we treated to shots of our hero’s heart at work, and later, a pigeon’s, we read subtitles forwards and backwards, watch a guy freefall out of a helicopter and chat on his cell and any number of wondrous, creative and captivating sights.

Neveldine and Taylor have created a breathtaking death ride that Statham enhances with his rock hard persona. It is a little gem that continues the brutal, heartless excesses of his previous works, Snatch, Lock Stock, Revolver and the Transporter films.

Statham does not generally appear in, and probably isn’t asked to take roles that require a depth and complexity. He’s like Tom Cruise in MI: 3 – ever moving forward. It certainly doesn’t require previous Shakespearean training but it does require total suspension of disbelief. He does what he does with focus so hard it seems to cut through the celluloid and into the skin. I’d like to see other young actors keep up with him.

Kudos to the cinematographers, editors and Foley artists who helped the filmmakers create an incredibly rousing summer confection.

It’s so dense with action and surprise that there is no room to think, just react, gasp and enjoy.

Opens wide September 1, 2006. MPAA Rated: R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexuality, nudity and drug use.