My missus is a big fan of Jason Statham, she has enjoyed his previous movies such as The Transporter and Lock Stock, so when his latest offering, Crank, hit the shops it was an easy decision to rent it.
Jason Statham is a hitman who wakes up to find that he’s been killed. A lethal poison has been injected in to him that will eventually stop his heart. His only chance is to keep his heart pumping fast enough to hold back the poison and allow him to seek a cure and take revenge on his murderers. This results in a frantic race through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of death and destruction as he pieces together the reasons for his assassination, and seeking opportunities to get his heart pumping even quicker, taking him through car chases, gunfights and even a quick stop to see his girlfriend.
The movie is very stylishly directed, giving you a real first person perspective of our hero, it is also fused with some rather peculiar humour and plotting, which conspires to keep you guessing throughout the movie, such that I really didn’t have any idea of the ending until (and possibly after) the credits rolled. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more action in it - it’s a highly kinetic movie but it’s not a Transporter movie so you don’t get the cool kung fu sequences of that genre, and most of the action is actually character oriented - check out the sequence where his girlfriend drops her handbag and he is trying to keep her from seeing him taking out the various goons that have been sent to finish him off.
All in all it is a good, but quite dark and bizarre film that evades classification in to a genre and is quite an interesting experience. Jenny’s view of it - she thought it was good and was pleased to see Statham’s bum - and I thought she liked him for his acting skills…
