CRANK

"You should be Dead!"

When hitman Chev Chelios (Statham) wakes up, he feels sick to his stomach. As his energy starts to drain away, he finds a DVD with a message from his rival Verona (Cantillo) who tells him that there is poison running through his veins. With only hours to live, Chev sets out to kill Verona but as he gets more and more angry he realises that adrenaline that is keeping him alive. Now all he has to do is keep his heart rate up by any means necessary and if a lot of violence has to occur to do that, all the better giving him more time to find Verona.

When it comes to naming a British action star you usually only have the choice of one man and he is the actor playing that suave and sophisticated secret agent but one man is claiming that crown, Jason Statham.

After making his name as a crafty cockney in the London gangster comedies 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' and 'Snatch', Jason transformed himself into an action star with the cult action hit 'The Transporter'. Suddenly Hollywood took notice and Britain suddenly had its own version of Bruce Willis, Jackie Chan and Steve McQueen all rolled into one.

Where 'The Transporter' and its sequel showed that Jason could be the consummate action star but 'Crank' takes him to a whole new level. Debut writer/directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor transport him into an almost video game like world to pull of one of those cinematic oddities, an action movie with a large punch of comedy. Jackie Chan has been doing this for years but Western stars have always struggled but it looks like Jason Statham and these creative debuting directors have finally cracked it and even cranked it up a notch or two.

As a hitman that sees the light, only to be poisoned by his fiercest rival, Jason Statham gets the chance to show he range as an actor and an action star. While Chev Chelios might not get the chance to be the deepest or most developed character in movie history, Statham injects him with an overdose of adrenaline, pushing the hitman to his limits so he can stay alive. The plot is a simple one and a one that mixes in many elements of films that have come before, he has to keep his heart rate extremely high to stay alive but it is the inventiveness of the script and the performance of Jason Statham that make this a much better film than it ever should have been.

Violence isn't the only way Chev Chelios finds to keep his heart rate up. With car and bike chases and a sex scene that will definitely be remembered for a very long time, the film is constantly inventing new ways for Chev to increase his adrenaline rush. The style of the film complements the speed and action of the film by making it like a big screen video game. Better than any adaptation of an actual game, this is an extreme version of the 'Grand Theft Auto' series, with the gangster elements, hit men, car stealing, drugs and a lot of guns. Throw in the use of Google Earth for the map sequences and a rotating camera that takes you into the thick of the action, and you have a film that has all of the hallmarks of what a video game adaptation should be.

'Crank' is one of the most creative action movies to come along in a very long time. Shooting the genre with a huge injection of adrenaline. Jason Statham proves again that he is one of the best action stars to come out of the West since the 80s heyday of Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson. Add to this fun performances from Amy Smart as Chev's slightly dippy but loveable girlfriend, Efren Ramirez as his gay informant Kaylo and Jose Pablo Cantillo as Chev's rival and would-be murderer Verona and you have a cast that brings even more to this already brilliant action flick. Jason Statham is the action star and with this film he cranks it up to the ultimate level.

The Transporter

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2006