Before I go on know this, this sequel is the most absurd, insane, over-the-top movie I’ve seen in a long while. But that’s what makes it so great. Most action movies require a suspension of disbelief. There’s always one scene in the movie where something completely unrealistic or impossible occurs, and from then on the movie can not be taken as seriously as it wants you to. That’s where Crank separates itself from so many other action movies of that have come out in recent years. It doesn’t want to be real whatsoever.
The movie continues immediately after the end of the first, with Chelios (played by Jason Statham) falling to his doom from a helicopter and being killed upon impact with (guess what) the ground. But wait, Chelios is abducted by black market dealers before breathing his last breath! In the last movie Jason survived one of the world’s deadliest poisons and whoever is in charge of the deal wants his “legendary” heart. They extract it and replace it with a new artificial one, (Jason escapes after hearing about the next thing they’re about to take from him,) and from then on its absolute insanity as Chelios tracks down the thief Johnny Vash.
This leads us to crazy example number one. His artificial heart can only one for about an hour before having to be recharged, and can’t handle heavy stress issues. In an attempt to juice up, Chelios does some painful, crazy, and often hilarious/awesome things. (Car engine + tongue = pain.) A fine example of this aspect is when Johnny Vash knocks Chelios into a generator and what happens next is not the action packed, high speed, fight you expected, but instead an old school, low budget, Japanese horror film style fight, complete with fake looking scenery and little plastic men.
Also worth mentioning is the interesting handheld camera style. It’s not a first perspective Blair Witch thing, which is a relief. Still I felt it was actually used effectively in order to translate some feeling of intensity whenever Chelios was doin his thang. My final statement is this: this is a completely over-the-top movie that was set free of its reigns, which allows it to feel fresh and new when compared to other action movies. Also, it’s a race against the clock kinda movie, so if you like those then that’s cool.