| | | There are a Thousand Ways to Raise Your Adrenaline. Today, Chev Chelios will Need Every Single One.
Features: Widescreen, Rated R, English, Subtitled, Spanish, Dolby Digital (5.1)
Chev Chellos (Jason Statham) is about to begin his morning with an unexpected wake-up call. Groggy, practically unable to move and with a heart that's barely beating, he hears the voice of thug Ricky Verona, who reveals Chev has been poisoned in his sleep and only has an hour to live. As it turns out, Chev is a hit man who freelances for a major West Coast syndicate. A run of the mill job the night before instead went awry: he let his target slip away in an effort to quit professional killing and start a new life with his girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart). Now, Chev must keep moving to stay alive: the only way to prolong the poison from stopping his heart is to keep his adrenaline flowing. As the clock ticks, Chellos cuts a swath through the streets of Los Angeles, wreaking havoc on those who dare stand in his way. He must rescue Eve from danger, stay two steps ahead of his nemeses and search for an antidote to save his own life.
"...a smart, sexy and funny sprint." David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer
"A Saw for the action crowd, this is an intense, stripped-down ride that goes places you'd never expect." Nick De Semlyen, Empire
"...an efficient, witty, junkyard dog of an action movie..." Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Editor's Note
Screenwriters and directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor make their feature-film debut in this fast-paced action film. Freelance hitman Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) wakes up with a big problem; a DVD left in his apartment by smalltime gangster Ricky Vanero (Jose Pablo Cantillo) tells him that he has only one hour to live. While Chev was asleep, Vanero injected him with a deadly synthetic drug from China--known as the Beijing Cocktail--as payback for Chev's last hit. Now, Chev's only hope to stay alive is to keep his adrenalin pumping. Dead set on revenge against Vanero, Chev also has to keep his girlfriend, Eve (Amy Smart), out of the mob's hands. To complicate matters, nave, sweet Eve has no idea that her charming British boyfriend is a hitman. Even worse, Chev's boss, Carlito (Carlos Sanz) has no intention of helping his favorite freelancer.Luckily, Chev's friend Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam) can offer some temporary lifesaving advice; his drugged pal has to keep moving. Downing cans of Red Bull and popping over-the-counter energy pills, Chev is a crazed man on a mission. He has to exact revenge on Vanero, save his girlfriend, and find an antidote, all while keeping his slowing heart pumping. Fear, sex and violence are the best way to keep adrenalin flowing, and there's no shortage of any of them in this nonstop action flick. Extreme chase scenes, shootouts, and romance abound, along with plenty of clipped dialogue and just enough dark humor. Statham plays Chev with a perfect combination of steely determination and utter insanity--a guy who is finally trying to do the right thing, even if it means killing lots of people along the way. Cantillo's Vanero is a little fish playing in a very big pond, but not quite the player he thinks he is.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital Stereo | | In Crank'd Out Mode, You'll Experience Running Audio Commentary, Behind The Scenes, Making-Of Insights, Gags & More! | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | This Is A Blu-Ray DVD Made For Blue-Laser Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture And Sound |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Lions Gate |
| Release Date: 1/9/2007 |
| Running Time: 87 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2006 | | Catalog ID: 20697 | | UPC: 00031398206972 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Available Subtitles: English, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[An] exuberant actioner....CRANK wouldn't work without Jason Statham. Battered, weary, wiescracking and astoundingly, viciously lethal, he's the working class angel of death cinema..." 10/01/2006 p.44Entertainment Weekly
"[A]s showily amped and amiably amoral an extreme action pic as the exhaust-end of summer deserves." 09/15/2006 p.54 ReelViews 7 of 10
There's not much of a mystery about what Crank delivers. As promised, it's 85 minutes of action, with little in the way of encumbrances like dialogue and exposition, and only skeletal fragments of a narrative to keep things moving. For the most part, Crank rolls along with a tongue-in-cheek approach - the over-the-top action is delivered with a side order of cheese, and there's plenty of humor to accompany the testosterone and adrenaline (emphasis on "adrenaline") cocktail. In fact, since the only unique aspect of the action is the MTV-influenced manner in which the directors have chosen to frame their movie, one could argue that Crank works best as a comedy. It's occasionally funny, and some times very funny. - James Berardinelli
Variety 7 of 10
Videogamers who've been itching for "Grand Theft Auto: The Movie" can tide themselves over in the meantime with "Crank," a down-and-dirty actioner that follows a rugged antihero trying to outrun death by keeping his adrenaline flowing. Doing the same for viewers, however, proves a taller order, and pic's prescription of killings, car chases and indecent exposure -- held together by a chaotic editing scheme only a crackhead could love -- doesn't add up to much more than a few bloody chuckles...Statham has carried movies ("The Transporter" franchise) and played ruthless killers ("Cellular") in the past; here, as a roguishly likeable muscleman with a 10 o'clock shadow, he gets to do both. - Justin Chang
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