 "Photo: DVD Cover")
Every action film these days has moments where you turn to your friends and say, “Dude, that is completely implausible, impossible and just plain couldn’t happen.” With “Crank 2: High Voltage,” that is the entirety of the hour and a half of the balls-to-the-wall and utterly absurd action and twisted comedy.
The sequel stars ex-hitman Chev Chelios, played by Jason Statham, and picks up the second the first film ended, with Chelios hitting the streets of Los Angeles after a 10,000-foot drop from an airplane. Of course, you can’t make a film about a dead man, so Chelios survives and is taken by Triad gangsters for organ harvesting. The first thing they decide to take is his heart and replace it with an electric one. Before they can take anything else, Chelios breaks free and tears through the streets of L.A. in search of his stolen “strawberry tart.” To keep his new ticker running, he must keep it electrically charged any way he can.
The movie also stars Amy Smart as Chelios’ girlfriend turned stripper, Bai Ling as the stereotypical crazy Asian hooker, and Clifton Collins, Jr., as a Mexican gang boss looking for revenge on Chelios for killing his brothers in the first “Crank.” David Carradine turns in a hillarious cameo as the 100-year old Triad boss lucky (or unlucky) enough to receive Chelios’ heart. The cast all turns in distinct and enjoyable performances and they never seem to break the fourth wall even when they are forced (for the sake of the film) to do the most insane things. Also, all you porn fans out there look for some glorified extra cameos with Ron Jeremy and Jenna Haze.
If you balked at any of the summary and said to yourself, “C’mon”, this movie may not be for you. If you can’t handle overly gratuitous violence, dismemberment, profanity, sex or nudity, you may want to just skip this one. Given “Crank 2” is not for everyone, anyone looking for something alternative that most movie executives would have shot down before they even finished reading the script can find something to enjoy in this crazy flick.
“Crank 2” was shot with digital hand held cameras in a shaky MTV-style and captures the electric style of the film. It also avoids the pitfall of most other movies that use the same style where the action becomes a blur of hard to follow punches and gunshots. One of the interesting things “Crank 2” does is throw in somewhat random flashbacks, dream sequences and cartoonish gags. While some of it feels a bit silly, it’s hard not to call a film about a guy electrocuting himself to stay alive silly.
The DVD release feels a bit sparse with only two “making of” shorts, a “Take 2” short that points out some filming mistakes that made the cut, audio commentary from the two directors, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, and some trailers for other Lionsgate films. Fortunately, both of the behinds the scenes and “Take 2” shorts are enjoyable and give an interesting inside look of the film. The audio commentary also is quite hilarious and gives some insight into the different methods of filmmaking the directors utilize.
Overall, “Crank 2” is worth a look if you’re not the squeamish type and its hyper style lends it some unique variety not seen in other action films. It’s obvious this was a movie “by dudes, for dudes” (a fact easily seen when the two directors are downing beers during their “making of “ interview) and if you can accept it as is, you won’t feel too dirty giving it a watch. If I was to summarize it in a generic “this meets that” moniker, “Crank 2: High Voltage” is “Family Guy” meets “The Transporter.” An odd mix, but it fits.
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