Written and Directed by: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor
Starring: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Efren Ramirez, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Dwight Yoakam
Rated: R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexuality, nudity and drug use.
Parental Notes: Teenagers will likely enjoy this madhouse of action, but parents may be concerned about the irreverence and casual public sex and drug use in the film.
"Crank" is a surreal tweaking of familiar action movie elements, an utterly over-the-top thrill ride that never stops. It has moments when it seems profound, but ultimately it's got about as much meaning as a few levels of Pac-Man. Those bored of the usual actionfests may enjoy the way it takes everything to the extreme.
The plot is as simple as can be: mob hit man Chev Chelios (Jason Statham, "The Transporter") wakes up under the influence of a drug and finds a DVD explaining that he's been poisoned - his adrenaline receptors are shutting down and he has less than an hour to live. Enraged, he goes on a rampage to take out the people who did this to him, and discovers that if he floods his system with adrenaline by fighting or driving like a madman he can hold off the poison's deadly effects. His doctor (Dwight Yoakam) helps him stay on the run long enough to keep his girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart, "Peaceful Warrior") from being snagged by the bad guys and then to get his revenge.
The entire movie is thoroughly surreal. The jumpy cuts and hand-held camera work make other action flicks look positively calm and soothing. Shots from Chev's first-person point of view are warped and almost reminiscent of a Dali painting. When people speak to Chev on cellphones, they can often be seen reflected in mirrors near him or projected on walls like video cameras. When we first meet Eve she's a stereotypical incompetent girlfriend, but once Chev convinces her that he really is a hit man and really has been poisoned, she suddenly becomes a useful ally to him (in spite of the fact that he nearly rapes her in pubic to try and get a life-saving adrenaline rush from the sex). Nothing can be taken for granted here because literally anything is possible. The last shot before the credits takes the cake, and after the credits is a sequence that may change your interpretation of the film entirely.
"Crank" is packed with action from start to finish, but those expecting lots of hand-to-hand fighting like in "The Transporter" will be disappointed. There's tons of gun play, a car chase through a mall, but Statham hardly gets to show his chops as a street fighter. Still, if you're looking for a thrill ride, it's here. Any time Chev gets to relax for a moment, his heart slows and he begins dying. That's enough motivation for him to start random fights, take any uppers he can get his hands on (even if he has to threaten people to get them), even do crazy stunts on a motorcycle. There's a bit of graphic violence - a hand chopped off, gunfire, etc. - but compared to some action movies "Crank" has only a middling level of gore.
The cast don't have to do much acting. "Crank" is the kind of movie where as long as actors don't break character on screen or make people laugh by overacting too much, their performances are fine. Statham is building quite a reputation for playing tough guys on screen and keeps it up here. Smart also does well, and the actors playing the villains and supporting characters are competent.
Ultimately, whether or not you'll enjoy "Crank" depends on your tolerance for logic-free action, surreal cinematography, and occasional on-screen brutality.
Directed by: Neil LaBute
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Kate Beahan, Ellen Burstyn, Frances Conroy
Rated: PG-13 for disturbing images and violence, language and thematic issues.
Parental Notes: This is a pretty hard PG-13, but still too soft for an R. The film is suspenseful and has disturbing imagery including a decomposed corpse and a person burning to death. Human sacrifice is a central theme. Probably not suitable for tweens or younger.
The 1973 film "The Wicker Man" was a cult hit starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee. How effective Neil LaBute's remake is will depend heavily on your own movie preferences; like many grade B horror/thriller films, it has a number of flaws, and there's a fine line between the frightening and the comedic.
The basic story remains the same: a police officer is brought to a remote island by a desperate letter from a woman who says her daughter is missing. Upon arriving, he finds the islanders are unhelpful and odd, and follow a religion with harvest and fertility festivals. As he digs deeper and deeper into the little girl's disappearance, he becomes convinced she is going to be sacrificed at the upcoming fertility festival, and is determined to save her at any cost.
In the new version, Nicholas Cage plays officer Edward Malus, whose first name is a nod to the star of the previous version (the missing girl's last name is Woodward, completing the reference). The woman who calls him to the island, Willow (Kate Beahan, "Flightplan"), was once engaged to him. When she ended their relationship she ran home to Summersisle where she grew up. Now, though, she tells Edward not to trust anyone on the island as he looks for her daughter, Rowan.
Edward is hampered by hallucinations and nightmares brought on by an encounter on a deserted road. Some time ago, he stopped a single mom and her daughter, only to watch helplessly as their car was demolished by a speeding semi truck. As he searches for Rowan, his unsettled emotions over that trauma blend with his emotions around Willow and the missing child and his investigation becomes clouded. Cage is a solid actor for this sort of role, playing an increasingly confused and angry man.
Like many not-good-but-not-bad-either films, "The Wicker Man" requires its audience to bring a bit of effort to the table. The time line is muddied -- what day the fertility festival is and what day it currently is in the film isn't clear in many scenes. There are a great many things which are never explained, starting with a wriggling, dripping mass in a burlap sack. For some this may aid the overall eeriness of the film, but others may find it laughable. As there are revelations toward the end, things ought to fall into place but instead they become more confusing. The overall truth of the matter is clear, but there are many details which don't work.
There are two elements missing from this remake that were present in the original in spades: sex and religion. The officer in the 1973 film was a devout Christian, and it's easy to read the film as a clash between a fanatical Christian and a group of fanatical pagans. Edward Malus, however, shows very little religious feeling in the new film. The old version had plenty of sexiness, as well -- ritual nudity, a frenzied seduction dance, and so on. Here, the sexiest thing that happens is some rather chaste kissing. While differences are to be expected between an original and its remake, the remake has lost some of the edge of the original.
Like many who saw the 1973 version, I spent most of the film wondering if the ending of the original would remain intact in the remake. I needn't have worried. Director Neil LaBute wrote and directed "In the Company of Men" and "Your Friends and Neighbors," and isn't one to shy away from the violence humans are capable of doing to each other. Even so, it's difficult to predict who will and will not like this problematic film, be they fans of the original or not.