Crank: High Voltage
| Crank II: High Bondage | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Mark Neveldine Brian Taylor |
| Written by | Mark Neveldine Brian Taylor |
| Produced by | Michael Paseornek Tom Rosenberg Gary Lucchesi Skip Williamson Richard Wright David Rubin |
| Starring | Jason Statham Amy Smart |
| Cinematography | Brandon Trost |
| Edited by | Fernando Villena |
| Music by | Mike Patton |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate Films (US) Lakeshore Entertainment (international) |
Release dates | April 16, 2009 (UK) April 17, 2009 (US) |
Running time | 96 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12,900,000 USD |
| Box office | $23,847,252 |
Crank: High Voltage (Crank 2: High Voltage in some regions) is a 2009 American action/thriller film, and sequel to the 2006 action film, Crank. It picks up 3 months after the first film left off, retaining its "real-time" feel and adding surrealism. Crank: High Voltage was written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who both wrote and directed the previous film. The film was released in the United Kingdom on April 16, 2009,[1] one day prior to its North American release date.
Plot
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (April 2009) |
The film opens with a sequence designed to look like a classic video game, depicting Chev Chelios' (Jason Statham) fall from a helicopter during the final moments of the original Crank. Immediately after his fall, he is scooped off the street via snow shovel by group of Chinese medics and removed from the scene.
He wakes up in a makeshift hospital and sees doctors removing his heart while Johnny Vang (Art Hsu) watches. The doctors place Chev's heart in a red cooler with a padlock, and place a clear plastic artificial heart in his chest. Chev passes out. He wakes up, and escapes. He notices a yellow battery pack is attached to him. After a gunfight and the interrogation of a thug, Chev learns the location of Johnny Vang - the Cypress Social Club.
Chev calls Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam), who tells him that he has been fitted with an AbioCor Artificial heart. Once the external battery pack runs out, the internal battery will kick in and he will have 60 minutes before it stops working. He crashes his car right after the conversation, destroying his external battery pack. In order to keep going, Chev has the driver use his jumper cables on himself, and runs to the Club.
Upon arriving, Chev inadvertently saves a prostitute named Ria (Bai Ling) from a customer. Ria is infatuated with Chev and claims she knows where Vang is (who escaped, carrying the red, padlocked cooler). She takes Chev to Strip Please, where Chev finds his old girlfriend Eve Lydon (Amy Smart), who thought he was dead. In a back room, Vang has been cornered by a group of Mexican gangsters, led by Chico (Joseph Julian Soria), who shows he means business by chopping off a man's elbow. Vang agrees to let them have Chev, and apparently escapes. Chev is confronted by the Mexicans, and a gunfight breaks out. Everyone gets gunned down by Chev, except Chico, who escapes out a back door. Chev interrogates a wounded gangster, who informs him that El Huron (Clifton Collins, Jr.) is trying to kill him, but doesn't know why. Chev picks up Eve and they walk out.
Outside, he is met by a group of cops, who begin beating him down. He is weakened, but one of them inadvertently charges Chev by using a taser on him. Another stripper tells Chev that he should look at the Hollywood horse racetrack for Johnny Vang. They encounter a group of porn stars protesting low wages, and Chev is forced to escape, leaving Eve in the back of the cop car. Chev is picked up by Venus (Efren Ramirez), who reveals himself to be Kaylo's brother. He also has Full Body Tourette's Syndrome. At first, Chev tells Venus that everyone responsible for his brother's death is dead, but this prompts Venus to leave. Wanting his help, Chev tells Venus that El Huron was involved but escaped.
At the horse tracks, Chev is losing energy. He learns that the heart can be charged through the skin by means of friction. Eve shows up and they have sex on the racetrack while the crowd cheers, and Chev is restored to full energy. Chev spots Vang and once again leaves Eve behind. Vang escapes, and Chev is about to be subdued by security when Don Kim picks Chev up in his limo. He informs Chev that there is a leader in the Triads named Poon Dong (David Carradine), who was in need of a heart transplant. When he heard of Chev's ability to withstand the Chinese adrenaline poison, he put out an order for Chev's heart. Don Kim then tells Chev that he wishes to return him to Poon Dong for a reward. Upon hearing this, Chev kills all of Don Kim's henchmen, including the limo driver, and shoots Don Kim several times. Meanwhile, Eve is arrested, and Venus calls in Orlando (Reno Wilson) to assist in tracking down El Huron.
While driving, Chev is cut off by an ambulance. He boards the ambulance and is surprised to see the EMTs are working on one of Don Kim's henchmen that he shot. He demands a new battery pack for his artificial heart, and the EMT is forced to stop working while he hooks it up. Don Kim dies, and Chev exits the ambulance upon seeing Johnny Vang on the street outside. Vang tries to escape in a car, but the car drives off without him, and Chev chases Vang to an electric plant, where there is a Godzilla-inspired fight where Chev and Vang fight. Upon winning, Chev discovers that Vang's red cooler holds something other than his heart (the contents of which are unknown, but make Chev recoil in disgust). Chev learns from Doc Miles that his heart is already transplanted into Poon Dong, but promises to find him for Chev. Chev goes to ask Johnny Vang, but Johnny Vang is shot and killed by Chico, and they knock Chev unconscious.
There is a dream sequence showing Chev as a youngster, with his mother (Geri Haliwell) on the Luke Canard show talking about his violent tendencies as a boy. Eve is interrogated by police, but refuses to rat Chev out. Doc Miles uses his assistant Chocolate to lure Poon Dong in, and knocks him out.
Chev is awakened by electric shocks to his testicles, and is dragged by speedboat to an island where El Huron awaits. El Huron explains to Chev that he is the third Verona brother, and is very upset that Chev killed Ricky (Jose Pablo Cantillo) and Alex Verona (Jay Xcala). He reveals Ricky Verona's head being kept alive in a tank by a group of scientists, speaking in an electronic voice. Chev is whipped for Verona's pleasure, and is about to die when Orlando, Venus, and Ria show up, each with their own group of gunfighters, and chaos breaks out.
Chev smashes open Verona's tank and kicks his head into a pond, but starts to slow down. He climbs an electric pylon nearby and grabs the insulators to recharge, but is flung off of it upon contact. Venus is fighting El Huron and is about to lose when Chev reappears, still partially on fire from the electricity. He beats El Huron to death (while still burning), and throws his body in the pond next to Ricky's head. In a hallucinogenic state, Chev then tries to hug Ria (thinking she is Eve) but accidentally sets her on fire as well, and she runs off screaming. His flesh burning and his face melting, Chev walks towards the camera, giving the middle finger to the audience in the final moment of the film.
During the credits, Doc Miles places Chev's heart back in. At first, it looks like a failure, but after everyone leaves, Chev's eyes open, and his heart is heard beating.
Cast
- Jason Statham as Chev Chelios
- Amy Smart as Eve Lydon
- Efren Ramirez as Venus
- Dwight Yoakam as Doc Miles
- Reno Wilson as Orlando
- Clifton Collins, Jr. as El Huron
- Bai Ling as Ria
- Art Hsu as Johnny Vang
- David Carradine as Poon Dong
- Ron Jeremy as himself (cameo)
Former child actor Corey Haim has a supporting role in the film. Also appearing in the film are porn stars Jenna Haze and Lexington Steele. Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" star Glenn Howerton, who both had appearances in the first film, Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan and former Nine Inch Nails member Danny Lohner, pop star Geri Halliwell (who appears in a flashback sequence), UFC fighter Keith Jardine, actress Lauren Holly and the founder of Troma, Lloyd Kaufman.
Production
Mike Patton, of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle fame, produced the score for Crank 2: High Voltage.
Lionsgate Films will handle North American distribution of the film, while Lakeshore Entertainment will handle international distribution. Filming started in April 2008. The writers and directors confirmed there will be more sex and violence within an R rating. Like the first film, the production budget will be lower than $20 million. In order to help keep costs low, the filmmakers have taken advantage of low cost prosumer HDV cameras such as the Canon XH-A1, as well as a consumer model, the Canon HF10. [2]
The movie has received an R rating by the MPAA based on an interview with Amy Smart. She was photographed brandishing taped nipples and disclosed that her character Eve has become a pole dancer.[3] [4]
Sequel
In an interview, when asked about a new Crank film, actress Amy Smart said "It's been talked about," but no actual statement from the writers has been made.
Soundtrack
Linkin Park's song, "Given Up", was featured in the trailer for the movie, but not in the movie itself (lead singer Chester Bennington has a cameo in both films). The majority of the soundtrack will be done by Mike Patton.[5] The soundtrack received an "Incredible" 9.5/10 from IGN.
Original songs not scored by Mike Patton that appear in the film are as follows:
- Keep On Loving You by REO Speedwagon
- The Stroke by Billy Squier
- Suck My Dick by Dickheadz
Reception
Critical response has been mixed. The film received an average score of 7.5 with over 6,400 ratings from IMDB users[6] and a 64% from Rotten Tomatoes (a higher percentage than the original). [7] However, Metacritic cited a score of 47 out of 100, based on 12 reviews.[8] Crank 2 failed to score in the box office in its first week, ending at #6 with $6,510,000 in 2223 theaters, although its predecessor only opened with $10 million. As of May 6,2009 the film has grossed $23,847,252 which is lower than the first films gross renuvue.
See also
- Crank (film)
- Chev Chelios
- List of American films of 2009
- List of films set in Los Angeles
- AbioCor - The artificial heart featured in the film.
References
- ^ > http://www.crank2.co.uk/.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Crank 2: High Voltage Being Shot With Cheapo Best Buy HD Cameras, Still Ridiculous
- ^ "Amy Smart Topless Shots". Crank 2: High Voltage Blog. 2008-06-28. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Amy Smart Spills on Crank 2 Sex Scene, Crazy Plot, Crank 3?". Crank 2: High Voltage Blog. 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Crank 2: High Voltage (2009) - Soundtracks". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
- ^ "Avg score for Crank". IMDB. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
- ^ "Avg score for Crank". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
- ^ "Avg score for Crank". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-04-19.