Nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.

The first 15-20 minutes are rather contrived and almost painfully bad, but somehow it catches on to a fun groove towards the middle and ends up being a silly but overall fun film. Statham is predicatably bland in his role, though Amy Smart delivers a career low performance. Other then that though the film is pretty good, though the editing can get very annoying.

B

"Statham is predictably bad"?

Statham is actually pretty much the best thing the action genre has nowadays.

I gave this a shot, hoping for a nice little gem of an action flick, but it pretty much sucked. Statham was solid as a rock as usual (even in utter shit like Transporter 2 he manages to evoke serious charisma as an action star) and was the best thing about the movie. The biggest problem here isn't even the manic directing style (insane use of freeze-frames, split-screen, crazy editing) which I expected going in considering the film's basic gimmick. Fact is, is that there is no great action to speak of here. No great chases, gun battles, no fights, just completely uninspired, sloppy and tacky. Some really gruesome stuff comes out of left field and doesn't seem to fit. At times if felt like Statham was a loony tunes character operating in a cartoon universe (which is actually given credence at the very end). And are we supposed to care about whether this guy lives or dies? His retarded girlfriend certainly doesn't inspire sympathy for the man. There are a few chuckles strewn about and a couple of the scenes do work, but on the whole it's just a real mess.

Statham deserves better. There's an action movie classic waiting to happen with him, he just needs to stop doing crap like Transporter 2 and Crank.

D+

I agree, though I am getting fed up seeing him play the same character over and over.

From what I saw, this was way too similar to Transporter I-XVIII. Same cheap sexiness about it. Looks fun nonetheless.

All hail Jason Statham... King of the late summer movies!

After last year's exhilirating Transporter 2, Jason Statham is back and amped out more than ever in Crank a hyper-paced, B-movie, bit 'o' the old ultra-violence. Yup, this one rocks, and rocks hard. The relationship stuff with Amy Smart is freakin' hilarious - every minute she was on screen I was convulsing with hysterics. The bad guys were pleasantly and sadistically incompetent, allowing Statham's character, Chev Chelios to exact some severe ass-kicking before the super-fantastic ending!

Hot, hot, hot....

8 out of 5.

(Yup, just as good as Beerfest in it's own twisted way.)

Disappointing.

I got really excited because of the great early reviews, but this film just aint that good. Running Scared can still safely hold the crown for best action film of the year, that's for sure.

It's visually inventive and visually interesting throughout, but liked Benny touched on -- it simply does not have any stand-out action sequences. That, and it all becomes very repetitive about fourty-five minutes through. If it weren't for the oustanding visual trickery and Statham's great performance, I would have been downright bored at about the half way point, something I was never expecting from this type of film.

Oh, and normally I'm willing to let this sort of stuff slide when dealing with films of this nature, but the misogyny and objectification of women reaches uncomfortable heights in certain places.

**

Especially the part at the end with the women in the glass bubbles or whatever they were, like artifacts on display. not human beings with feelings. The portrayal of Amy Smart's character also didn't help assuage such claims.

The biggest issue I had was with Amy Smart's character. The girl's in the bubbles, yeah... but I could let that go as some sort of abstract art piece because that was the vibe of the hotel the scene took place in.

But seriously... Smart's character.

I feel like she single handedly set women in film back about thirty years.

"My stuff!!!!!!"

Fucking no one would have said that. NO ONE.

I meant to put "bland" not bad, I'll have to correct that.

I'm no fan of his. Transporter and Transporter 2 were terrible and thanks in small part to him. He is a bland, uninspired actor who really cannot hold a good character. Every single one comes off the same. It doesn't help that he has about 4-5 facial expressions which he endlessly recycles.

...?

I believe that is actually something that really does occur in that sort of ritzy environment though.

He has more charisma in those 4-5 facial expressions you talked about than most actors could ever dream of.

That, and he's great with deadpan.

I haven't seen Crank, but so far Statham has been good in each of his performances I have seen. The guy has charisma, something that many action stars lack. If you go in and expect to see a "good dramatic" performance á la Sean Penn, well then it's your own fault.

He's a good actor, but seriously Rogue, I don't know what you're expecting with the performance of a lead in an action flick like this. Jason Statham is pretty much the best out there at the moment.

I truly enjoyable ride. Shatham may just be recycling a character he's used many times before but its still an effective display. The movie also makes the very smart move of refusing to take itself very seriously and pokes fun at almost all the characters and situations which makes it pretty easy to forgive some of the more suspect set-ups. (like how a helicopter can rise to what looks like 6000 feet in 30 seconds.)

All the neat little visual effects littered thru out the movie are a very nice touch as well, I get the feeling people are sometimes hesitant to praise these additions because they are "superficial" but I think they deserve a mention.

Easily the best straight up Action movie of the year for me.

B+

Here we go again....

Crank's goin' be another on of those movies that some people get all snooty about on it's initial release, and then about a year from now, after the DVD's been released, it will begin to be recognized for the gem of a B-movie it is.

I think it's caused by a general misunderstanding of the intent of the B-movie -- whereas people will give the big Hollywood product no end of slack, they all of a sudden get all tight-assed over the devil-may-care vibe of a movie like Crank...

That's the most hilarious misinterpretation I've read in ages!

Amy Smart's character was extremely well written and consistent. The relationship between her and Statham's character was very romantic and realistic. I loved her ultra laid back, yet assertive as needed personality. If you haven't met women like that in real life, you've missed out on a special kinda human.

As for "my stuff", I know people of both genders who do all manner of ridiculously irrational life-endangering stunts to protect their measly "stuff"...

This movie was great I was expecting a good action/gore movie and I got it. What made the movie great though was the comedy. Everyone in the theatre was laughing extremely hard at some points, screaming at others, and clapping during the middle of the movie (After he was able to get it up).

I think this may have been one of the most enjoyable movie i've seen this summer. I give it an A-

Actually, I think you're the one that's "hilariously misinterpretating" the character, bradley. I'm not sure how you could possibly gather that Smart's character was "realistic" or viewed in a respectful manner in any regard (especially considering the environment of misogyny and objectification the character is wrapped in) in this film. She's a stupid, lazy pot-head that only exists to get her boyfriend in trouble by making stupid decisions (that the film believes only a woman would make, clearly) and acting as a wet hole when he needs it.

Oh, and I can't believe you're actually going to sit there and try to explain away that "My Stuf!" line. It was clearly the filmmakers commenting on what they believe to be the petty nature of your average women. She'd walk into a hail of gunfire to get a $2 dollar compact mirror and a thing of lip gloss. People running into burning buildings to get a photo album or something, I get. But no one would behave like that over such meaningless crap when the danger of the situation is right in front of their face (which often isn't the case when people make stupid decisions).

Honestly, I'm not sure why I'm bothering, though. You are always twisting the events in films to fit your obscure "story" criteria that you seem to solely judge with.

I did love the moments when the film embraced the state of reality (or lack thereof) it took place in, though. The car moving up the escalator, the conversation with the business man in the elevator, and that brill final shot that is straight out of a Road Runner cartoon.

I haven't seen the movie, but surely you can imagine that there a ton of women out there who DO NOT have respect for themselves and fall into the description you've written down.

I seems if we are going to get into a tissy over the portrayal of women in this movie we should be highly offended about the perception given of Asians and Hispanics as well.

In this movie their nearly all bloodthirsty gangsters, hitmen and thugs.

Its disgraceful I tell ya

Wow, that's such an overstatement. If it wasn't for the fact I had free passes for the film I would have avoided it simply because I loathe Statham and his horrendous acting "abilities".

No, I was not expecting an Oscar nominated role, but I wouldn't have minded a character that wasn't just a heap of recyled bits from all of his previous characters.