When I saw the previews for Crank, starring Jason Statham, it looked like a movie I would end up seeing with my male friends. I could tell it would be fast-paced and full of action, but I worried there would be no storyline behind the explosives. However, since it was a long weekend, I decided it was worth seeing Crank to let the guys at RPI know how the stunts were and let their girlfriends know if it was worth going along.
I can tell you one thing for sure—the movie starts fast and doesn’t slow down. It jumps from one fight to the next car scene to the next drug reference and paragraph of obscene language. This movie is violent, crude, and riddled with sexual references and cursing banter: do not let children into the movie. It isn’t the type of movie you want to see with a younger sibling or a kid with their parents. For a bunch of guys in a group though, it’s one of the great end-of-the-summer blockbusters.
Hold on a minute. Slow down. What is this movie all about? It is indeed possible to create a storyline that allows nonstop action and thrills. As the film unfolds, the audience learns that Chev Chelios (Statham) botched a hitman job and was injected with the “Beijing cocktail.” Now he has to keep his adrenaline up to keep his heart pumping and thus stay alive. This sets the stage for nonstop action with less focus on the plot.
Throughout this hard-hitting 87 minutes, the other key characters are introduced in phone calls, homicide attempts, and flashbacks. The villain of the tale is Ricky Verona, played by Jose Pablo Cantillo. Verona is part of the crime family Chelios was going after, and he is responsible for the lethal injection meant to kill Chelios. While trying to pay back Verona—the last thing Chelios is trying to accomplish if he doesn’t die first—he is trying to find an antidote from Doc Miles, portrayed by Dwight Yoakam. The doctor is in and out of the picture flying from one city to the next giving advice between flights. The only other actress to note is Amy Smart, who plays Statham’s girlfriend in the flick, only known as Eve. She is really only in the movie as the eye candy and to get Statham’s adrenaline pumping with a public sex scene.
So what is the downfall of an action-packed movie with a good looking cast? If you are looking for character development, look somewhere else. Even though the whole movie is focused on Chelios, there isn’t much information given about him outside of the day he is poisoned and trying to fight to stay alive. The story is also kind of hard to follow due to the way the film is shot. It jumps from one thing to the next and rarely shows the action straight on. This actually helps the action shots but makes it impossible to read deeper into the story or catch any references to a plot line.
There were of course some parts that the movie could have gone without—as happens with all films. When the scene jumped from one location to the next, there was a screen of Google Earth maps, which has become popular in most media settings. Also, some of the phone conversations between Verona and Chelios seem to only serve the purpose of wasting time on swearing at each other. There were some predictable scenes, as well, which made some of the action fizzle when the audience knew it was coming. The aforementioned classy scene featuring Chev and girlfriend Eve was obviously the only way she could help him get his heart rate pumping faster. Other parts, however, seemed completely out of place, such as when the doctor is introduced; nothing is mentioned on why he is treating Chelios.
Overall, I would definitely recommend that guys go see this movie with a group of friends. As far as the ladies on campus, go if you are willing to suffer through it for a boyfriend or you really like this type of movie—by all means it is worth a viewing. Coming from my female perspective though, it was something to pass the time. Perhaps this review might have been better if written by a guy, but it was a decent way to spend an afternoon over the long weekend.
