Adrenalina

If Crank were to take itself seriously, it would be the most unpleasant movie ever. Thankfully, it's so over-the-top and so stylized that any chances of taking it seriously get immediately thrown out the window.

What you're left with is an insane action movie that overloads your senses and keeps you watching for two reasons: One is because it's legitimately entertaining, and the other is out of curiosity of just what new GTA-level insanity will it do next.

This is my first review and I've been reluctant to write one because I don't really think anyone will read it... but here it goes.

Crank is fun, really fun. In the way of Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (kind of) it's got its violence and action tossed into a mountain of humor. The writers (and directors) took these three things, tossed them into a movie blender, put the blender on puree, and came out with this movie.

The directors (and writers) did some visually awesome things with this film. People on the other side of phone calls appear on walls, rear-view mirrors, and other things. Random words from a person's dialogue appear on screen along with their part of speech in parenthesis afterwards (ep-i-neph-rine (n), man). This visual style I have declared... accidytrip-o-vision.

Other movies with accidytrip-o-vision: Easy Rider and A Scanner Darkly.

In conclusion, Crank is an action-filled, blood encrusted, comedy haywire, accidytrip-o-vision, adrenaline-pumping achievement.

Kudos to Statham and the rest of the team for the new bible of popcorn flicks.

This movie really is fully packed with action and humor. it has everything that can keep your heart pumping for the whole movie. A hit-man chasing and killing bad guys with guns knives and everything he can find. there is a lot of gunfight and explosives. But the movie really is funny too. the whole crowd in the theater were laughing out loud here at the "avant-première" in Montreal. during the opening sequence, some dizziness begin to overwhelm you because of a shaky and blurred camera but i guess this is exactly what the director was expecting. This "shaky hand" camera effect is reused throughout the movie adding to the perspective and helps one get plunged in the movie. The special effects are mainly car crashes and explosions, but are really well executed and very inventive. And the story, well, the story isn't really what you seek when choosing to go see this kind of movies, but in crank, the storyline is actually pretty good. It could probably be resumed in half a page though :) I would say that it is one of the most balanced humor/action movie i've seen in the past years.

If you like brainless action flicks with insane set-pieces, great one-liners and zero character development so you don't give a rat's-ass about them, then Crank is probably the film for you. It is done originally, like a computer game where the action supersedes the plot. It keeps the film moving and the viewer entertained at the same time at the ridiculous and extreme scenarios and this is all the directors want Crank to do. Everything, including generic realism, convincing plot and background characters plays second-fiddle to the stylised action and I couldn't help but be entertained, especially at the completely unsubtle contemporary culture-clash comedy references!

6/10

Fast. Hyper. Action-packed. Drug-induced. Insane. Crank is all these things, and extremely entertaining too. No doubt a movie made just for the guys, it's filled with guns, car chases, sex, random humor, nudity, Amy Smart, Pedro from Napolean Dynamite, sex, nudity, etc. The only thing missing were some hand-to-hand fight scenes that would have made this movie complete. Instead, we do get a nice confrontation where one person is armed with a butcher's knife... but I shan't spoil that one.

But yes, this is a live-action video game on the big-screen. Google Maps zooms into the next location Chev visits and on screen text gives you its name ala a video game's "next level" sequence. Chev's girlfriend thinks he is a video game programmer. The opening titles for "CRANK" are shown in the blocky, pixellated style of a 1980's Atari game. Chev is just trying to get to the boss at the end of the game.

And a tip for those of you yet to see it- STAY THROUGH THE CREDITS. It reinforces everything I just said.