Crank: High Voltage (2009)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Directors:

Mark Neveldine
Brian Taylor

Writers (WGA):

Mark Neveldine (written by) &
Brian Taylor (written by)

Release Date:

17 April 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

He was dead...But he got better

Plot:

Chelios faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working.

Plot Keywords:

Heart | Stripper | Prostitute | Electricity | Artificial Heart

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Jason Statham	...	Chev Chelios
Amy Smart	...	Eve Lydon
Dwight Yoakam	...	Doc Miles
Efren Ramirez	...	Venus
Julanne Chidi Hill	...	Dark Chocolate
Reno Wilson	...	Orlando
Keone Young	...	Don Kim
Art Hsu	...	Johnny Vang
Joseph Julian Soria	...	Chico
Ling Bai	...	Ria
Clifton Collins Jr.	...	El Huron
David Carradine	...	Poon Dong
Corey Haim	...	Randy
Geri Halliwell	...	Karen Chelios
Billy Unger	...	Young Chev

Also Known As:

Crank 2 (USA) (alternative title)
Crank 2: High Voltage (USA) (trailer title)
Crank: High Voltage - Fully Charged (Australia) (DVD title)
High Voltage (Singapore: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for frenetic strong bloody violence throughout, crude and graphic sexual content, nudity and pervasive language.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45101) | Ireland:18 | UK:18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Germany:18 | Singapore:R21 (cut) | Germany:18 (SPIO/JK) (DVD rating) | Iceland:16 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Australia:R | Australia:R (2009) | Finland:K-18 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Japan:R18+

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Lionsgate

Trivia:

There were two cameras used to make this film: The Canon XH-A1 and these micro cameras, the Canon HF-10.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Eve and Chelios both fall onto the horse race track, in the previous scene where they stumble, you can see bleachers below where they fall, so they would have fallen on another level of bleachers instead of on the track.

Quotes:

Talk Show Host: Chev, where's dad?
Young Chev: I never met the wanker. He died before I was born.
Talk Show Host: What do you think he'd say, if he saw you acting out like this?
Young Chev: Dunno, sir.
Talk Show Host: If he were here now, and he asked you "WHY THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DO SON?", what would you tell him?
Young Chev: Dunno, sir! Bored, I guess.

Movie Connections:

References Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)

Soundtrack:

Spacer

Where Is My Strawberry Tart?

Crank 2: High Voltage practically begs to be passionately loathed by absolutely everyone, with the notable exception of antisocial teenage boys. Its rank, nihilistic tone is relentless and exhausting. The misogyny is benchmark horrendous. The acts of violence are brutal, frequent and often blatantly homoerotic. Its flippant. Its homophobic. Its vulgar. And it feels as much seething contempt for its own narrative coherence as it does for its few prominent female characters.

But there is something bracingly brilliant about it. Films this fearlessly unhinged simply do not get made any more, and thirty years ago this would've played, late at night, to packed houses for years on end, perhaps aptly bundled with the likes of John Water's Pink Flamingoes.

One fact that was suggested by the first Crank is set heroically in stone barely five minutes into its sequel - that directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor appear to be completely obsessed with pornography. There is a truly jaw-dropping amount of flesh on constant display, and the film's only female speaking parts belong to a prostitute and a stripper. This lends the film an air of uncomfortable, almost lavatorial sleaziness, until a bunch of actual porn stars turn up in the middle of a scene, starring as a bunch of disgruntled porn stars striking for better pay. Although it hardly passes as satire, it does seem like a sly dig in the direction of the producers that populate the Hollywood mainstream, who'd surely relish the opportunity to make films like this if only the bastard machine would let them. Balls-out exploitation it may be, but if any film lives up to cinema's ancient adage of providing its audience with relentless sex and violence, its this one.

The second half of the film is where it really flies, and chooses to disregard not only its own plot, but any care for the patience or expectations of its audience. It goes, essentially, mad. And for something that was clearly deranged in the first place, it'd be foolish for me not to offer up the only advice that will enable you to see exactly what I mean.

Go and see it.