This review is written under the assumption that you've seen Crank, the crazy, over-the-top, loopy and insane action flick from unique filmmaking mad-men Mark Nevaldine and Brian Taylor. Although heck knows why you'd be interested in seeing the sequel, aptly subtitled High Voltage, if weren't interested in the original. It goes without saying that the following may be considered spoiler-filled.
The film is exactly what you'd expect: everything from the first film is present here, except turned up to eleven, sometimes in the films favour, sometimes very much not. This is definitely a case of the unexpected popularity of a balls-out movie having caused the makers to ramp everything up pretty much for the sake of it, however purely entertaining that may be.
Only the makers of the first film could possibly have come up with a way to continue on the seemingly complete story. Adrenaline junkie (quite literally for the entire first film) Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) was last seen lying on the ground after falling thousands of feet from a helicopter above. One would assume he's a goner, dead, kaput. But oh no, reminiscent of the craziness seen beforehand, Chelios is amazingly still alive and scooped up off the ground by some bad guys in a black van. An unknown mob boss wants him alive, long enough to relieve him of his various organs, starting with his heart, which they replace with a temporary artificial one.
But before they can take any more of him, Chelios breaks free of his mysterious hospital room, and heads out on a mission to find out who did this to him. However it's not long before he starts to feel very ill, and after calling his doctor friend (Dwight Yoakam) he realises he needs jolts of electricity every so often to keep his body alive and working, which he relentlessly tries to do long enough so that he can retrieve his stolen heart and get it put back in.
What do you expect from a sequel to the madness that was 2006's Crank? Guns? Violence? Blood? Strong language? Sex? Car chases? You'll not be surprised to find that it's a check on all those counts, and more. Everything you can think of in the way of over-the-top action, Crank: High Voltage has it in spades. It's hard to even comprehend that they managed to up the level of mayhem from the first film, which on its own was as adrenaline-filled and high octane as you could hope from a film of its type. And yet somehow they found a way. What you can't excuse writer/director Nevaldine and Taylor of is shyness about showing just exactly what they want to — short of Chelios turning green and into the Hulk, this sequel has it all.
Article comments
1 - Mark Buckingham
I didn't enjoy the first Crank much, and was somewhat surprised to find there was enough demand to make a sequel. Shoot 'Em Up, War, and Crank made for some of the most disappointing "action" movies I've seen in the last few years, enough so that Stealth looked halfway decent by comparison. The Transporter flicks are varying degrees of okay, and Statham is capable of good work; I just wish he ended up on more interesting projects more often. Either way, I guess this is better than him working with Uwe Boll again.
2 - teh loat
"sometimes there is such a thing as "too ridiculous". Or is there?"
There is not. I laughed the entire journey home after watching this and would pay more money to see a Crank 3.