Today’s quick review: Crank: High Voltage. Jason Statham returns as Chev Chelios, who wakes up in a hospital bed months after the events of Crank. Chelios finds that he has heart has been surgically removed for transplant into an ailing mobster, and a battery-powered artificial heart is the only thing keeping him alive. He breaks out of captivity and goes on a city-spanning rampage in search of his stolen heart. His hunt takes him through gang hideouts, strip clubs, and the streets of Los Angeles and reunites him with his ex-girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart) and his doctor from the first movie (Dwight Yoakam). But the catch is that Chelios’s artificial heart can only hold an hour’s worth of charge, a number that decreases with exertion. To keep his heart charged, Chelios must shock himself with electricity, drawing power from tasers, car batteries, static electricity, and more to keep himself alive long enough to retrieve his heart.
Crank: High Voltage is a fast-paced, low-budget, and ridiculous action movie. Whereas the original Crank adhered more strongly to the tone and conventions of a typical action film, Crank: High Voltage shamelessly embraces its over-the-top nature. The result is an entertaining if nonsensical thrill ride full of violence, crude jokes, and nudity. Chelios’s second rampage is powered by electricity rather than the adrenaline of the first film, so every scene or two, Chelios must find a new way to electrocute himself. The plot is shoehorned into the aftermath of the first film, adding a brother to its crime family and weaving in revenge as a motivation for some characters. The film is heavily stylized, with a brief pixel art segment, a montage of characters shouting “Chelios!”, and a fight scene done in the style of a Japanese giant monster battle.
The main draw of Crank: High Voltage is its absurdity. Most of the combat takes the form of fairly standard run-and-gun shootouts, but the stylization, the reckless treatment of settings and characters, and the use of electricity give the action an extra edge. The character development is even more shallow than the first film, which is actually an advantage due to the unlikable nature of the characters. The sensibilities of the film are purely juvenile: there are shootouts in or around three different brothels or strip clubs in the first 20 minutes of the movie, the violence is gratuitous, and nearly all the characters are walking incarnations of rage and lust.
Those who are looking for a fast-paced and utterly shameless action film should give Crank: High Voltage a shot. It has very little going for it aside from its ridiculous premise, frenetic action, and heavy stylization, but these are enough to make it an enjoyable popcorn movie for those who don’t mind its sensibilities. Those who are sensitive to violence or nudity, who prefer action films with plots and characters, or who prefer their movies to make sense should skip Crank: High Voltage. You won’t get anything out of the movie if you can’t enjoy it for the ride.
6.2 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 for its absurdness and enjoyability.