Movie Review

Crank

Once in a while a movie will come along that is so ridiculous you almost can?t believe it. Ballistic (D+) comes to mind in that regard, and so does Paycheck (C-) and last year?s Red Eye (C/C-). The good news about Crank is that it doesn?t take itself seriously (unlike all three movies); there is an extreme sense of mindless fun right from the first frame, and it doesn?t let up. The bad news is that the movie?s as mindless as you can get without being God-awful. Crank is a gritty as hell, fast-paced movie that basically doesn?t have a plot and is horrendously illogical; if it had been any longer (than 87 minutes), it would?ve been unbearable (and on the level of the three movies).

Jason Statham stars as a man who has been injected with poison and must consistently maintain a fast heart rate or he will die. The movie plays like a Tony Scott film, as there is a heavy usage of flashy editing that is very unnecessary, and the camera constantly jerks around. The movie is likely to find a niche, but I found it to be along the same lines as Cellular (C), which I also thought was ridiculously contrived. Most of Crank centers around Statham struggling for adrenaline (and finding any means to get it), and in that regard, the movie does have a sense of humor about itself. However, nothing in the story is developed, which makes the action (and just about everything going on) pointless; unless you are a fan of any of the actors, this can be a grueling experience.

Crank doesn?t rank up as one of the year?s worst movies, but it is definitely one of the year's cheapest. This is an extremely standard action movie that scores points for not taking itself too seriously and for maintaining a brisk pace, but it still takes a specific sensibility to enjoy.

Lee's Grade: C
Ranked #98 of 177 between Great New Wonderful (#97) and Ultraviolet (#99) for 2006 movies.

A	0.4%
B	30.0%
C	61.7%
D	8.0%
F	0.0%