,CRANK' lf he only had a heart? Heck, if this sequel only had a brain BY FRANK LOVECE Special to Newsday
sequel to the 2006 actioner "Crank"
A cheerfully preposterous movie in which - aa I I lrit man, injected with a high-tech drug that will stop his heart, needed to keep his adren adren- aline pumping if he was going to livelong errough to kill his poisoner the outrage-for-outrageousness' - thissake. retread amps But for all its ADD editing, it's a joyless slog. The presumed-dead Chev Chelios (fason Statham) has survived the last film's fall from PLOT Jason Statham a helicopter, only to returns in a sequel have Chinese gang- that finds presumed- sters harvest his heart dead hit man Chev for their aged leader Chelios alive with an (David Carradine, artificial heart and a unrecognizable under battery he has to all the makeup). Sad- keep recharging on dled with an artificial the run. heart that needs contin- ual rechargingwith CAST Jason jumper cables, a Taser, Statham, Amy Smart, what have you, he has Dwight Yoakam, to track down his Efren Ramirez, Bai missing organ so that Ling, David Carra- Doc Miles (a returning dine, Clifton Collins, DwightYoakam) can Corey Haim reimplant it. His girl- friend, Eve (Amy LENGTH 1:25 Smart), and others are also back. PIAVING AT Area True to its title, theaters "Crank High Voltage" cranks everything up BOTTOM.LINE The so much that whatev- original was kind of er gave you a charge origrnal. This sequel before now just deliv- is just stupid. ers nasty shocks - emphasis on nasty. Filled with more skank than crank, it's a parade ofhookers, strip- pers and real-life porn stars; a reprise of the first film's graphic public-sex scene; and a man forced to slice off his own nipples. Theater-ofithe-absurd subversion? No. The movie just self-consciously snickers, with ham-fist- ed homages to the "Kiss Me Deadly'l'Pulp Fic- tion" briefcase, the |apanese monster movie "War of the Gargantuas" and vidgo games, with a maze shootout in which Chelios kills anonymous ene- mies and collects weapons. But none of it's any fun And just in case you were wondering: John de Lancie (Qon "Star Trek The Next Generation") and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell have un- credited cameos.
Production Year: 2012 Country: Indonesia Cert (UK) : 18 Runtime: 101 Mins Directors: Gareth Evans, Gareth Huw Edwards Cast: Doni Alamsyah, Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Pierre