At times, Crank is loads of fun and threatens to enter that golden territory of so-bad-it's-good, but the violence grows far too ugly and is so unrelenting that it becomes tiresome.
Crank (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:86
Fresh:52
Rotten:34
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: It's a film about a guy injected with Speed... wait, there's no bus. It's a film about a guy who has to kick a bunch of squirmy butt to stay alive... wait, no snakes or planes here. But it is a film about doing lots of drugs and pulling lots of punches, and it entertains accordingly.
Runtime: 87 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
US Box Office: $27,771,239
Synopsis: Screenwriters and directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor make their feature-film debut in this fast-paced action film. Freelance hitman Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) wakes up with a big problem;... Screenwriters and directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor make their feature-film debut in this fast-paced action film. Freelance hitman Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) wakes up with a big problem; a DVD left in his apartment by smalltime gangster Ricky Vanero (Jose Pablo Cantillo) tells him that he has only one hour to live. While Chev was asleep, Vanero injected him with a deadly synthetic drug from China--known as the Beijing Cocktail--as payback for Chev's last hit. Now, Chev's only hope to stay alive is to keep his adrenalin pumping. Dead set on revenge against Vanero, Chev also has to keep his girlfriend, Eve (Amy Smart), out of the mob's hands. To complicate matters, naïve, sweet Eve has no idea that her charming British boyfriend is a hitman. Even worse, Chev's boss, Carlito (Carlos Sanz) has no intention of helping his favorite freelancer. Luckily, Chev's friend Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam) can offer some temporary lifesaving advice; his drugged pal has to keep moving. Downing cans of Red Bull and popping over-the-counter energy pills, Chev is a crazed man on a mission. He has to exact revenge on Vanero, save his girlfriend, and find an antidote, all while keeping his slowing heart pumping. Fear, sex and violence are the best way to keep adrenalin flowing, and there's no shortage of any of them in this nonstop action flick. Extreme chase scenes, shootouts, and romance abound, along with plenty of clipped dialogue and just enough dark humor. Statham plays Chev with a perfect combination of steely determination and utter insanity--a guy who is finally trying to do the right thing, even if it means killing lots of people along the way. Cantillo's Vanero is a little fish playing in a very big pond, but not quite the player he thinks he is. [More]
Starring: Jason Statham, Dwight Yoakam, Efren Ramirez, Jose Pablo Cantillo
Starring: Jason Statham, Dwight Yoakam, Efren Ramirez, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Amy Smart, Carlos Sanz
Director: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Director: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Screenwriter: Brian Taylor
Producer: Michael Davis, Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, Richard Wright
Composer: Paul Haslinger
Studio: Lions Gate Films
Reviews for Crank
Crank works overtime to be a disreputable bit of pulp fiction, and for the first half or so it's like inhaling the cinematic equivalent of the film's title.
Demented, depraved and probably bad for your soul in the long run, the pedal-to-the-metal action film "Crank" nonetheless provides a jolt of pure, uncut movie-making.
[A] monotonously mindless but colorful caper.Crank is banally boisterous...jolting junk that strangely is filling in its sneering, rambunctious spirit.
Oh, please, please, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, please be at your computers, writing away at another screenplay.
Viewers baffled by stuff happening for no particular reason should probably stay well away.
Like so much contemporary entertainment, Crank is a frenzied distraction that means nothing.
For those who enjoy this brand of wholly mindless entertainment, Crank delivers.
The question isn't whether Jason Statham knows how to Crank things up. The question is whether or not you're willing to go with him on yet another highly implausible, blood-soaked, adrenaline-pumped ride.
'Crank' fires on all cylinders but is fundamentally just an excuse to piece together a nasty trail of mayhem dotted with morbid jokes.
Elaborately aggressive and provocative, Crank is just what its title suggests: fast, ornery, and exhausting.
More guilty fun than a firkin full of extremely inebriated simians -- if you let it drag you to its level, something it does with the charm of an accomplished sociopath.
Why establish yourself as a martial arts star and then make a movie around the Chinese mob with no martial arts fights?
Jason Stratham rampages through Los Angeles in this retread of Speed, but for a movie premised on unrelenting action, Crank proves fatally turgid.
A somewhat entertaining movie of the politically-incorrect, testosterone-laden brainless pure action variety.
It boils down to 83 minutes of Chev journeying through LA's ethnic 'hoods dispatching minorities. Granted the movie can't be taken seriously, its cavalier racism is shocking.
At times, Crank's everything-including-the-kitchen-sink-and-then-some approach feels more like a cartoon than anything else.
But as the body count mounts up, the story runs out of ideas, and it goes from crank to crummy.
Latest News for Crank
April 15, 2009:
Exclusive: Bullets and Babes on the Crank High Voltage Set
In this week's super-charged sequel to the 2006 sleeper hit, Crank (60%), the writing-directing team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (known simply as "Neveldine + Taylor")... More...
September 26, 2008:
Exclusive: David Carradine Cameo in Crank 2 says Statham
It's not just Death Race that boasts a cameo from legend David Carradine. According to star Jason Statham, speaking to RT this week ahead of the UK release of Death Race, the... More...
September 26, 2008:
RT Interview: Jason Statham Chats Death Race, Crank 2 and The Sweeney
RT catches up with Jason Statham to learn more about the Death Race and grill him on upcoming turns in Crank 2, Transporter 3 and the possibility of an appearance in Nick Love's... More...
October 30, 2007:
Crank 2 Details Revealed
Not long ago, we discussed Jason Statham's plans to reprise his role as hitman Chev Chelios in a sequel to Crank. Now, thanks to Variety, we know how the filmmakers intend to... More...
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