Crank (2006)

"...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, naïve, 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.

	Amy Smart
	Dwight Yoakam
	Efren Ramirez
	Jason Statham
	Adam Biddle - Cinematographer
	Brian Berdan - Editor
	Brian Taylor - Director
	Brian Taylor - Writer
	Chris Cornwell - Art Director
	Mark Neveldine - Writer
	Mark Neveldine - Director
	Paul Haslinger - Original Music By
	Peter Block - Executive Producer
	Tom Rosenberg - Producer

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.44

Entertainment 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