Crank 2: High Voltage
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DVD details
Actor: Amy Smart, Jason StathamBrand: Lions Gate
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-09-08
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lionsgate
DVD Reviews of Crank 2: High Voltage
DVD Review: 3 ½ Stars: Ridiculously OVER-THE-TOP...This Movie is a HOOT!
Summary: 3 Stars
"CRANK" was quite an experience. The movie just basically channels its strength from just how outrageous and over-the-top the scenes can get, it was basically a cartoonish display of violence and mayhem. I didn't exactly figure that writers/directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor would come up with a sequel considering the way "Crank" ended. Well, buckle up, fellas, Neveldine and Taylor have unleashed "CRANK 2: High Voltage" and it is definitely bigger, louder, sillier than the original film. This type of movie makes fun of itself and is NOT to be taken seriously. The film's ludicrous plot requires a VERY, VERY, VERY HUGE suspension of disbelief and requires a certain taste. I'd be lying if I didn't say that the film is loads of fun to watch and that it serves up a climax that is so outrageously unpredictable.
The movie takes off after the events of "Crank" as we see killer-for-hire Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) splattered all over the sidewalk. He should have died right there, (the movie makes no attempts to explain why his body wasn't pulp) but his body was recovered by a Chinese triad so that they can transplant his "strawberry tart" (or heart) to their very elderly leader Poon Dong (seriously!). Chelios awakens to escape before the triad can harvest his other body parts and goes on a rampage to recover his natural life-giving pump; requiring a jolt of electricity for his artificial heart so that he can embark on his journey. Along the way, he runs into a spunky prostitute named Ria (Bai Ling), his ex-girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart) who is now a sexy stripper, dead friend Kaylo's brother Venus, all the while trying to avoid his former enemies...
Complain all you want about the film's bad dialogue, abrasive hyper-kinetic cinematography, gratuitous nudity (even full frontal), racism and absurd plot devices, this film goes all out. It appears that the creators are all in to outdo the original and they succeed. Directors Neveldine and Taylor doesn't hold back and CRANK 2 does make the original appear like a Disney flick. Like the two filmmakers or not, Taylor and Neveldine does display some of the sensibilities that made Tarantino great; only instead of having a grand knowledge of cinema that references from other films of the past, the two is your kid-in-a-candy store whose passion for filmmaking stems from video games, Asian technological tricks, cartoonish caricatures that is not high art but more like a scribble on a sketch book. They don't have the Tarantino finesse or touch, but they make do with what they have and channels exactly what they want to express that is a movie built on lewd behavior, murder, violence, blood, gratuitous nudity and sex. The two "Crank" creators are nuts and their ideas are a hoot!
The film is an on-screen video game complete with an 8-bit Nintendo score. "Crank 2" channels its energy from the absurd and the ridiculous. I don't have any idea as to what the crazy subtitles were all about. The writing of the film makes mayhem and debauchery its central focus and Statham and Amy Smart seemed to be very comfortable with their roles. I cannot really dissect the senseless, outrageous gimmicks the two filmmakers have cooked up because it is the film's main strengths; quite frankly the film makes the bare minimum of sense and it makes it its main draw. I wouldn't be surprised if they wrote up the story while they were drunk or they were severely over-caffeinated. (I mean this in a good way) I'll give you a few examples to whet your appetite, Statham and Smart has sex on a horse racing track while a horse leaps overhead showing his attributes, a stripper who gets shot in her implants, there are crazy scenes that channels "Godzilla" and "They Saved Hitler`s Brain". Whatever idea you can think of, "Crank 2" may just have it. Convoluted; yet so much fun.
The film is a direct sequel and honestly, it seems like "Crank 2" is the same movie but with more guts to go to the limit. The majority of the characters in the film carry references to the first film and many of them return in the persons of Keone Young, Reno Wilson, Dwight Yoakam, Glenn Howerton, and in a way, Efren Ramirez who plays Kaylo's twin brother; they are easily recognizable as the viewer can easily connect the dots. Ramirez's character is definitely inspired that he has a crazy medical condition that I shouldn't reveal. Bai Ling plays a gutsy Chinese hooker and her character is no less outrageous as Ramirez's. She appears to be a sexy, creepy natural Bai Ling without her prozac. Cehv Chelios is the type of protagonist that I had no qualms in cheering on, because of his tough-fisted approach to any problem. It also helps when he has a girlfriend as sexy as Amy Smart. The film also remembers to pitch in a `mythic' mystery as to what is inside Johnny Vang's (played by Art Hsu) cooler. (ala-"Pulp Fiction")
"Crank 2: High Voltage" isn't a great movie but it is definitely great for what it wants to be. One cannot help but give in to all the ridiculousness and silliness of the film's narrative (or close to a linear narrative as it can be). The film is all about revenge mixed in with chase elements, with the "strawberry tart" as the main objective. Like Neveldine or Taylor or not, you have to give the two guys their props and appreciate their talent for mayhem and visual manipulation. Despite the fact that they may not approach a true level of artistry and finesse, their rough, edgy and unique style has won me over. The film is a raw exercise of action, mayhem and sex that defies and denies all logic and laws of physics that can turn your brain into gooey matter. It is something that takes everything we've seen in the past and dresses it up as something very different. You will either love this film or hate it; there is just no halfway mark. If there's another sequel (there is a strong hint that there will be), I am pretty sure this time I would be all in.
Recommended! [3 ½ Stars]
Description of Crank 2: High Voltage
You can?t keep a good man down. Jason Statham is back as Chev Chelios ? this time to retrieve his stolen heart (that?s right, he?s running on battery power). High-octane and truly electrifying!
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