Let me start by saying that I usually like crazy action movies with plots that are an afterthought. "Crank," however, was a ridiculous mess, a waste of time, and offensive on top of that.
Jason Statham plays the same character he always plays. Everyone else in the movie is essentially an archetype. The portrayal of people of color and women is standard, which is by no means a good thing. At one point Chev Chelios (Statham's character) pulls a Middle Eastern driver out of his taxi and yells "Al Qaeda." Then a group of people viciously attack the taxi driver as Chelios steals his car. That scene is pretty representative of the film and its depth. There are a wide variety of racist portrayals and comments. Chelios forces his girlfriend to have sex public. She resists but then loves it and starts asking for more. Typical.
There is plenty of the now common, but still annoying and detractive, product placement.
The plot is barely worth discussing. Basically Chelios has been injected with a Bejing Cocktail, a drug that slowly kills a person unless the person's adrenaline levels stay at an abnormally high level. So, he has to do outrageous things to keep himself alive. At the same time, he has to get revenge on the people responsible for administering the drug.
The action sequences are okay. They aren't that impressive compared to say, The Protector, which is also in theaters as I write this and is considerably better. There ARE some good special effects and gore, if you are into that.
Now, some might argue that the film is really a comedy/satire. The completely impossible and outrageous ending would suggest as much. If this is the case, the movie is better, but not by much. It remains offensive and lacking. Plus, it seems doubtful that the intention was to create a clever satirical film which actually poked fun at other movies starring Jason Statham but cast him as the main character also. Sure, it's possible that the people behind this movie meant for it to be taken as big joke and I simply didn't get it, but I sincerely doubt that.
1 out of 10
Jason Statham plays the same character he always plays. Everyone else in the movie is essentially an archetype. The portrayal of people of color and women is standard, which is by no means a good thing. At one point Chev Chelios (Statham's character) pulls a Middle Eastern driver out of his taxi and yells "Al Qaeda." Then a group of people viciously attack the taxi driver as Chelios steals his car. That scene is pretty representative of the film and its depth. There are a wide variety of racist portrayals and comments. Chelios forces his girlfriend to have sex public. She resists but then loves it and starts asking for more. Typical.
There is plenty of the now common, but still annoying and detractive, product placement.
The plot is barely worth discussing. Basically Chelios has been injected with a Bejing Cocktail, a drug that slowly kills a person unless the person's adrenaline levels stay at an abnormally high level. So, he has to do outrageous things to keep himself alive. At the same time, he has to get revenge on the people responsible for administering the drug.
The action sequences are okay. They aren't that impressive compared to say, The Protector, which is also in theaters as I write this and is considerably better. There ARE some good special effects and gore, if you are into that.
Now, some might argue that the film is really a comedy/satire. The completely impossible and outrageous ending would suggest as much. If this is the case, the movie is better, but not by much. It remains offensive and lacking. Plus, it seems doubtful that the intention was to create a clever satirical film which actually poked fun at other movies starring Jason Statham but cast him as the main character also. Sure, it's possible that the people behind this movie meant for it to be taken as big joke and I simply didn't get it, but I sincerely doubt that.
1 out of 10