Crank: High Voltage (Lionsgate)
More Like A Dead Entertainment Battery
In 2006 Jason Statham introduced the world to a character named Chev Chelios in a movie titled Crank. That movie ended with Chelios falling out of a helicopter flying over Los Angeles. Supposedly that was the end of the character but noooooo! Chelios is back in a sequel titled Crank: High Voltage. This new film is only half as good as the original, which means it is even more pedestrian, bloated, gory, humorless and boring than the first.
As the movie opens Chelios falls out of the sky and hits a car on the ground. He bounces once and then lands on the pavement. A van pulls up and he is hauled inside. It seems someone wants to harvest his heart, which they do, and replace it with a battery operated one. When Chelios comes around three months later he wants his heart back.
The whole movie involves him going through the streets of Los Angeles killing people in order to try and get his original heart back. His buddy Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakum) says he can fix everything back up if he can get the heart back. Seems old Doc was once a heart surgeon. Who knew!
There are scenes in this movie that are so gory you have to turn your head. Then there is the constant stream of profanity and the various sexual acts that are introduced. It might be titillating to some but to most it will just be boring.
Statham is a good action actor but this is a low point for him. It is difficult to think that the star of the Transporter series and the co-star of The Italian Job would sink to this level. The same is true of Amy Smart who plays Chelios girlfriend Eve. Surely there isnt enough money worthy of this mud wallow.
To add insult to injury you also get David Carradine and Bai Ling in the cast. Thankfully their time on screen is brief. They should thank their lucky stars for small favors.
The film is rated R for profanity, violence, sexual situations and nudity.
I can imagine teenage boys whooping it up and having a high old time with this film. For anyone else with a semblance of taste this is an endurance test that can be ended by just walking out.
I scored Crank: High Voltage a discharged 2 out of 10.
