Crank: High Voltage 2009 - Film Review

Statham, Smart, Neveldine, & Taylor Crank Up Sleaze to New Heights

Sep 19, 2009

Crank: High Voltage, the second installment in Lionsgate's Chev Chelios saga, offers less action and more sleaze. Maybe it is time to let Chelios really die.

On September 8, 2009, Crank: High Voltage (a.k.a. Crank 2) was released on DVD and Blu-ray. With the original Crank offering non-stop, uniquely superb, in-your-face action, its sequel faced the arduous task of being more aggressively outrageous. But Crank: High Voltage is no Crank. Instead of compiling a montage of original and hardcore action the likes of which fans of the first Crank were clamoring for, writers/directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor took an even lower road. In place of endless, mindless, over-the-top action, they settled for sleaze and gore so grotesque it would make a doctor cringe.

Whereas Crank was absurd in a good way – a tongue-in-cheek, pseudo-parody of the modern-day action film – Crank: High Voltage is more absurdity but of a lesser flavor. Crank's plot was not intended to be taken seriously. In essence, hitman Chev Chelios, played by action film front runner, Jason Statham (Transporter, The Italian Job, Snatch, Chaos), is poisoned with a synthetic drug that inhibits his adrenalin flow and slows his heartbeat. According to mafia physician Doc Miles, played by Dwight Yoakam (Sling Blade, Hollywood Homicide, Bandidas), Chelios must counteract his adrenalin loss by speeding up his heartbeat. Thus begins a virulent display of fighting, racing, stealing, fornicating, and killing, Chelios rampaging across Los Angeles in a quest for revenge. The fast-paced script was simple but inspired, original, and humorous.

Picking up where Crank left off, Chelios having fallen from a helicopter to his apparent death, Crank: High Voltage tells a new tale of fantastic medicine that piles a heaping load of ridiculousness upon the first film's already ridiculous script. The Triads, a Chinese mafia, literally shovel Chelios off the pavement where he landed. Their goal is to farm the hitman's organs, his legendary heart (having survived the poison in Crank) going to the Triads' ancient leader whose own heart is failing.

In order to remove his remaining organs, the Triads keep Chelios alive with an artificial heart run by a battery of sorts. Chelios escapes, but his artificial heart needs constant electricity replenishment to keep Chelios juiced up and ready for action. Thus begins his second rampage across Los Angeles, this time in search of his heart.

Dwight Yoakam's return as Doc Miles is certainly one of the film's pluses. His scenes are sporadic but significant, always interjecting some comedy between action sequences. Amy Smart (Strangeland, Varsity Blues, The Butterfly Effect) reprises her role as Eve Lydon, Chelios' no longer innocent girlfriend. The fun naivety she brought to her character in the first film is lost in the sequel, the directors opting more for shock value with her character than for anything of quality. Efren Ramirez (Napoleon Dynamite, Employee of the Month, Gamer) also returns, this time as the brother of the killed-off character he played in the first movie. His appearance in the sequel is forced, out of place, and unwelcome.

New faces to the movie include Bai Ling (The Crow, Red Corner, Anna and the King) and Clifton Collins, Jr. (Fortress, Mindhunters, Horsemen). Ling's character, a Chinese prostitute named Ria, is way over-the-top. Not surprisingly, her portrayal works in a film of Crank: High Voltage's caliber. Collins' character, El Huron, and his portrayal thereof are adequate but not memorable.

If Crank was Action for Action's Sake, then Crank: High Voltage is Sleaze for Sleaze's Sake

Crank: High Voltage replaces the first film's long, intense action sequences with what can only best be described as pornography. The sequel contains more boob shots than all cheesy eighties comedies combined, and that's not counting the cameo appearance of a mullet-donned Corey Haim. Additional cameos are voluminous, including, unsurprisingly, several stars of the adult film industry (e.g., Jenna Haze, Ron Jeremy, and Lexington Steele). The gratuitous public sex scene between Statham and Smart seeks to top their similar scene in Crank, but it leaves out the humor of the first, replacing it with unfunny position gags.

Where there is action, there is nothing all that special. Previews for Crank couldn't show all the best action because there was too much of it. Previews of Crank: High Voltage captured the best of the film and hid its lesser quality and sub-par comedy.

But, Crank: High Voltage is still worth watching. It simply pales in comparison to its predecessor. Nonetheless, Crank 3 is already on the horizon, set for theatrical release in 2011. The kicker? According to Brian Gibson of FilmSchoolRejects.com, Crank 3 will likely be in 3-D! Who knows what impossible, life-threatening malady Statham's character will face in this third installment? And maybe this time, Neveldine and Taylor shouldn't save him.

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