Friday, September 01, 2006
Review: Crank
Looking for an image to use for this review, I came upon the above. I love it. I love it because it sort of encapsulates in a very simple manner what Crank, the latest Jason Statham actioner, is all about: intensity, silliness, and flagrant use of narcotics.
Make no mistake, Crank is easily one of, if not THE, craziest films you'll see this year. The film straight away tosses you into a glory of epileptic visuals (and with a clever pixellated title card that pretty much tells you exactly what you're getting yourself into for the next rapid 87 min.) that never really let up, but are never so bad as to make you literally sick. It's a break-neck film. A "Hard R" that'll make violence loving nerds hoot with joy. Limbs are lost, Mexicans are suffocated, even a poor caged parrot randomly gets what it so didn't ask for.
And yet, you can't help but smile at the insanity. This is where Crank wins and wins big. It's able to be completely violent yet never grotesque and totally absurd without ever being unbelievable (well, except for possibly a moment here or there, but never enough to put a damper on the proceedings). Crank is a gleefully ambivalent film when it comes to what's right and wrong, but it nevertheless ensnares its audience thanks in part to a rather sick and twisted sense of charm that permeates it. Also, Jason Statham, who suprisingly gets to add effective bits of comedy to his already badass sense of action-man self is absolutely terrific as our gruff, brutal, and oddly charismatic protagonist.Oh yeah, the synopsis. Simply put (and it is a brilliantly simple premise), Chev Chelios (Statham) is a hitman. He wakes up one morning to find something terribly wrong with him. He finds out he's been pumped full of a special poison that's essentially slowing his heart rate down to nothing. The only cure? Adrenaline, the one thing to counteract the poison. With that knowledge in place, Chev spends the remainder of the film destroying Los Angeles, clobbering innocent bystanders, and killing the shit out of bad guys everywhere.
(Completely unrelated aside but fun to consider: Chev Chelios is the man that exchanges briefcases with Vincent at the start of Collateral. That almost works in a bizarro world sort of way.)
What I love about a set up like this for a film that's unafraid to be nothing more than a balls to the wall actioner is that it gives the filmmakers free reign to be as inventive as they can when putting our man Chev Chelios (btw - best name since, I don't know, Chest Rockwell) in situations of peril or amusement. I don't really want to give away any of the moments because they really are something a viewer should experience for his/herself, but suffice it to say, you will be grinning for the vast majority of the runtime.
And what of Jason Statham? As I already mentioned, the man is great. Fans of his know this already, as Statham is sort of becoming this generation's Chuck Norris at the moment. I don't want to say someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger because Schwarzenegger has starred in at least one genuinely classic film (i.e. The Terminator) and Statham has yet to.
Crank, while very good, is also a film about reactionary impact I fear. It's a film that's completely audacious, not so much in what it shows but in how it shows it. It's a visual assault, full of every camera and editing trick known to man. But as such, it makes everything about initial or gutteral reaction. Is that something that holds on subsequent viewings? Sometimes, and I guess the same question could be posed to any action film, but I'm not really sure in this case because of how off-the-wall everything is. I mean, I sure hope it holds up because it really is an unapolegtically fun action film that's that sort of rare but great apéritif in between bouts of "heavier" cinema.That's not to say Crank is a dumb film either, because it's not really. It's a film that's fully aware of its genre and does everything it can to make it fresh again. Two other films did that this year: Running Scared and District B-13. If I were to pick the best of these, I think I'd say District B-13 because there's something about GREAT physical choreography in an action film, that for me, can never be outdone by any sort of visual trickery. Running Scared is very good because, like Crank (a sort of close cousin visually to Running Scared), it delivers its action with a hardcore recklessness that's rarely seen and too awesome to dismiss. But, as briefly mentioned, what Crank has in abundance, thanks really in huge part to Jason Statham's performance, is a wonderful, almost childish charm. Moreso than than even the Transporter films or the junk made with Guy Ritchie, Crank is the film that really showcases Statham as "Charismatic Action Hero", not so much because what he does is particularly charismatic, but because he's able to win you over despite the insane and sometimes questionable shit he does.
Perhaps that's what will ultimately give Crank rewatchabilty. That, or watching Amy Smart go at it with Statham in the middle of Chinatown. Either way, I know I want to go back and see this again with a big group of friends right away. And maybe that's the best compliment I can give this arguably brilliant film.
9 shots of epinephrine out of 10
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Excellent! The missus and I watched The Transporter last night and even with commercials and in P&S it was great fun. I can't wait to see this!
I do like the exuberence that a lot of recent action movies use. It can backfire, like in TRANSPORTER 2 which is more incoherent than over-the-top, but after years of stagnant ideas and cliches, its good to see some actual excitement in the action genre.
Nice review George. You may have forced me to go see this soon.