Crank 2: High Voltage

If you’re looking for a restaurant to take your kids to, one that has a smorgasbord is great. Not only does it give enough variety that there is bound to be something for everyone, but there’s no waiting around for the food to be ordered and cooked. Of course the downside to a smorgasbord is that you’re not always going to have the best cooked food, and some times the combination that you end up putting on your plate isn’t exactly complimentary.

Crank 2 is a smorgasbord of a film. It has so many different ideas and visual styles – most of which don’t compliment each other – that it ends up looking like it was written by a couple of guys doing shots and snorting coke in a strip club.

One has to hope that Statham was contractually obliged to do a second Crank, but the surprising thing is that this seemingly mismatch of styles is actually written and directed by the same two guys responsible for the original Crank – a film that wasn’t Statham’s best work, but streets ahead of this muddled outing. The really disturbing thing is that I now have little faith in the upcoming Gerard Butler DVD, Gamer. It’s a film I’ve been looking forward to, but if these two crack-heads are responsible for it, I’m not so sure that it’s going to live up to my expectations. 

Back to Crank 2 – the story follows on directly after Crank, with Statham’s character Chev Chelios falling out of a helicopter high above the city. He survives the fall, only to be picked up by an Asian gang who want to harvest his organs. They give him a temporary mechanical heart to keep him and his other organs alive after taking his still strong heart. Chev of course escapes, but has to keep shocking himself to re-charge the batteries.

So yes, it’s the exact same storyline as the last outing, but this time with much more gratuitous nudity and gore.

And sadly, far less of those Jason Statham moments that we so love.

I hate to say this, but unless Statham makes some decent film choices really quick, he might just have to resort to making kids movies, and to be honest, I don’t think he’s the guy for that.



Reviewed by: Jonathan Read
Release date: December 16th, 2009
Stars: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Dwight Yoakam, Efren Ramirez, Reno Wilson, Julanne Chidi Hill, Keone Young, Art Hsu, Joseph Hulian Soria, Bai Ling, Clifton Collins Jr, David Carradine, Corey Haim, Geri Halliwell, Billy Unger, John de Lancie, Ron Jeremy
Length (Minutes): 92
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Languages: English