Hit-man Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) is having a crap day; he's been injected with synthetic poison which will kill him if his heart rate drops. But before he dies, he intends to get revenge on those responsible for his predicament.
Five minutes into Crank and I knew I was going to hate it. The glut of directorial gimmicks and camera trickery that pervaded every moment of the opening scene sent alarm bells ringing in my head; this movie was going to be annoying in the extreme.
Rather than structure their film carefully and thoughtfully, directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor utilise every MTV-style editing trick in the book in the hope that the audience will be so stunned by the visuals that they won't cotton on to how crap the film really is. This sort of rubbish may impress may ADD afflicted teenagers who know no better, but it doesn't wash with me.
With split screens, CGI, staccato editing, bleached film stock, rapid zooms, freeze frames, and novelty subtitles, it's like the film was made by Tony Scott on amphetamines. Jason Statham may be one of the best action stars to have emerged in recent years, but even he cannot save this turgid mess from being the total wreck that it is.
On second thoughts, maybe this film is SO dumb and SO over-the-top that it's actually pure geniusthe ultimate violent popcorn thrill ride.
No, I was right the first timeit's absolute toss! However it escapes getting the lowest score possible by the skin of its teeth, due to the inclusion of gratuitous shots of Amy Smart's ass, which is divine!
Five minutes into Crank and I knew I was going to hate it. The glut of directorial gimmicks and camera trickery that pervaded every moment of the opening scene sent alarm bells ringing in my head; this movie was going to be annoying in the extreme.
Rather than structure their film carefully and thoughtfully, directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor utilise every MTV-style editing trick in the book in the hope that the audience will be so stunned by the visuals that they won't cotton on to how crap the film really is. This sort of rubbish may impress may ADD afflicted teenagers who know no better, but it doesn't wash with me.
With split screens, CGI, staccato editing, bleached film stock, rapid zooms, freeze frames, and novelty subtitles, it's like the film was made by Tony Scott on amphetamines. Jason Statham may be one of the best action stars to have emerged in recent years, but even he cannot save this turgid mess from being the total wreck that it is.
On second thoughts, maybe this film is SO dumb and SO over-the-top that it's actually pure geniusthe ultimate violent popcorn thrill ride.
No, I was right the first timeit's absolute toss! However it escapes getting the lowest score possible by the skin of its teeth, due to the inclusion of gratuitous shots of Amy Smart's ass, which is divine!