It is also one of the best video-game movies ever made. (Despite not actually being based on a video-game.)
Released in September 2006, this is a movie that arrived out of nowhere and proceeded to blow absolutely everybody away.
Watching it felt like a giddy thrill, as it possessed the anarchic feeling that we were watching something illegal, as we barely ever leave Jason Statham’s side for a film that doesn’t even make it to the 90 minute mark including the end credits.
It burns bright, and it burns fast, and it will leave a mark. This is Crank.
The movie feels like the folks behind Saw wanted to make a movie out of Grand Theft Auto but couldn’t get the rights to it, so they made what they figured was the next best thing.
In actuality, it was a duo known as Neveldine and Taylor making their directorial debuts, who could never really match this giddy high again (even with the still-enjoyable-but-not-quite-as-good Crank sequel) before eventually going their separate ways.
The plot feels like someone said “Speed, but in a person?”, as hitman Jason Statham is injected with a poison that will stop his heart if it goes below a certain BPM, so he resorts to any means necessary to keep it above that level.
So that involves a lot of illegal activities, including almost every kind of drug you can imagine, stealing police vehicles and officers’ guns, having sex in public, and having a fistfight while hanging out of a helicopter.
It is, in short, the kind of film that you’ll either go with and love immediately and forever, or never fully “get”, and hate eternally. Which was pretty much the vibe that critics had when the movie arrived in cinemas over a decade ago.
“This is an intense, stripped-down ride that goes places you’d never expect. Edgy and outrageous, it should get the fearless Statham some deserved attention.” – Empire Magazine
“Every movie’s gotta have a gimmick, and Crank’s is that it has an excellent shot at ending 2006 as the worst film of the year.” – New York Daily News
“Neveldine and Taylor empty their handbasket of cinematic tricks. They display visual wit, have fun with pop songs, and shoot much of the film in slightly choppy fast-motion (“under-cranked,” get it?).” – Los Angeles Times
“For a movie premised on unrelenting action, Crank proves fatally turgid.” – The New York Times
Make up your mind for yourself, as Crank is on ITV4 tonight (Wednesday 28 March) at 10pm.
Clip via thecultbox
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
