Is it possible that a movie so utterly without redemptive value, so completely, pointlessly uncalled for, can also be, you know, kinda fun?
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 could raise the dead! I loved it! Lionsgate should get behind this movie! It has guts.
Its original concept does not save this pic from becoming just another silly video game.
For those who take delight from movie junk fare, Crank is your just dessert.
A reckless, relentless rush that goes nowhere in an exhausting 83 minutes.
tears up the screen like a muscle car on fire – a brash, sinfully stupid joyride.
An instant cult classic. Pure, hardcore moviemaking backed by an inane plot, unrelenting action and zero pretensions.
The movie is cranked up somewhere between stylish and proudly stupid.
Crank is still an atrocity of visual design, acting, and fundamental storytelling that, at times, scarily resembles an especially smelly YouTube submission.
Like any adrenaline rush, Crank becomes more wearying than exciting the longer it goes.
Borrows pages from Quentin Tarantino, the Atari 2600 game console, and, most of all, British action junkie Guy Ritchie, in a deliciously absurd, rollicking rampage through Los Angeles.
While Crank has its moments, the line stringing them together isn't wound taut enough.
It's an E-ticket ride. But in the end, there's no heart, no moral to this story. And for all our sweat as viewers, the one thing we crave by Crank's closing credits is detox.
Writer-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor's previous work lies mainly in making commercials -- the quick-cutting aesthetic employed here.
It may stretch that hour a bit, but it doesn't waste a minute -- though it wastes everything else in its immediate vicinity. Your time as well? Not unless you don't have the stomach for wholesale property damage, mutilation and needles.
A jacked-up, unapologetically mindless bit of ADD-prescribed escapism that more or less delivers on a nifty premise.
For all its busyness, Crank never develops much momentum, not least because an exploding heart doesn't carry quite the same stakes as an exploding bus.
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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