Crank is a 2006 American action/thriller film, written and directed by both Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, and starring Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Efren Ramirez, and Dwight Yoakam. The plot centers on a British hitman in Los Angeles named Chev Chelios who is poisoned and must keep his adrenaline flowing constantly in order to keep himself alive, and in so doing causes mayhem, gets into fights with other gangsters, has altercations with the police and takes numerous drugs. The film's title comes from the slang word for methamphetamine. Produced and distributed by Lakeshore Entertainment and Lions Gate Films, it was released in the United States on September 1, 2006 in 2,515 theaters. The film was generally well received.
Plot
Carlito (Carlos Sanz) leads a wealthy and influential Mexican-American and his crime syndicate in Los Angeles, simply referred to in the film as the "West Coast Crime Syndicate". Worried about the encroachment of a group into LA of heavily-armed members of the Chinese mafia, and the effects that may have upon his operations, Carlito orders the contract killing of their leader, Don Kim (Keone Young). Carlito's best hitman, an English man called Chev Chelios (Jason Statham), is ordered to do the job. However Carlito has underestimated the Chinese and after the hit, the heat from Hong Kong is much greater than Carlito expected. Carlito immediately regrets that the hit may have been "ill-advised" and to ease the pressure Carlito offers the Chinese both an explanation and a solution: the hit was nothing to do with him, and Carlito will himself remove certain elements within his own organization who were responsible and operating on their own.
Ricky Verona (Jose Pablo Cantillo), a small time punk and long-time rival of Chev Chelios, uses the opportunity to conspire with Carlito against Chelios, unbeknown to Chelios who believes Carlito is still loyal to him. Whilst Chelios sleeps in his apartment one night, Verona silently breaks in and injects Chelios with the "Beijing Cocktail". This is a synthetic drug which inhibits the flow of adrenaline from the adrenal glands, slowing the heart, and eventually killing the victim. Chelios wakes to find a recorded video made by Verona mocking Chelios and explaining the situation, and that Chelios should only have about an hour left before the poison stops his heart.
Chelios speaks with an underground doctor who often works as a personal physician to the Mafia, Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam), who informs Chelios that in order to survive and keep his heart beating he must keep his adrenaline pumping through constant excitement and danger, or get some artificial adrenaline, epinephrine (it should be noted adrenaline is the same thing as epinephrine.) With his own adrenaline keeping the poison at bay at first, Chelios breaks into a hospital and steals numerous drugs, much more than Doc Miles advises him to take and also being "juiced" by hits from a defibrilator. Even still he must keep his adrenaline up through reckless and dangerous acts such as picking fights with other gangsters, stealing things, committing robberies, fighting with police and driving cars through shopping malls.
The entire film takes place over a single day, starting in the morning and going through to late afternoon/early evening. Over the course of the day Chelios sets out to get his revenge on Verona, knowing that he probably will not make it to the end of the day, and attempting to find Verona and his street gang through Chelios' street contact Kaylo (Efren Ramirez), a flamboyant homosexual. Chelios also goes to pick up his unassuming girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart) before Verona's thugs get to her. In one notable scene Chelios has sex with Eve in the middle of a busy street in Chinatown while hundreds of people look on, in order to keep his adrenaline up.
In the end it is revealed that Chelios never actually killed Don Kim, in fact sparing his life and telling him to leave LA instead. Towards the end of the movie, Chelios arranges a rooftop meeting with Carlito, Verona and their henchman, who promise him the (fake) antidote to the Beijing Cocktail. Don Kim arrives along with his Triads to assist Chelios, and in a vicious shootout many of Carlito's men are killed. Carlito is killed by none other than an ambitious and treacherous Verona, who then attempts to leave in Carlito's escape helicopter. The movie concludes with Chelios confronting Verona in the helicopter and as they fight the pair fall from the chopper thousands of feet above LA, and mid-flight Chelios breaks Verona's neck, quipping "I told you I'd kill you, you little bitch!" He then calls Eve on his cell phone, apologizing that he will not be coming back to her. Chelios hits a car, bounces off it and lands right in front of the camera. In the last shot it is implied that his adrenaline is indeed still flowing fast; his nostrils flare, he blinks, and two heartbeats are heard.
Cast
References to video games
Crank has a number of notable references to video games, especially that of retro gaming and of 80's arcade games. In the opening credits there are flashes of arcade machine boot up sequences, and also the high score table of Robotron: 2084 (1982) is briefly displayed. Another example of this is Verona's sidekick is seen playing Berserk (1980) in the car. The humanoid graphic of Berzerk is also displayed on the male toilet door Chev enters.[2] At one point, Chev tells Eve that he isn't actually a video game programmer. Many critics (such as those on Rotten Tomatoes) noted that Crank was more like a live-action video game than a film.
Production
Jason Statham did all of his own stunts, including the fight with Verona in a helicopter 3,000 feet above Los Angeles.
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The film was shot on-location in Los Angeles.[4] Co-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor operated both "a" and "b" cameras, where one would get a wide shot and the other would get a close-up shot. Jason Statham did all of his own fight and car stunts.[2] Google Earth was openly utilized for aerial photography. The overhead satellite images have the Google Earth logo on them, complete with the 2006 copyright. Statham also mentions that he doesn't tell his mother about the stunts due to her worrying.
Marketing
Directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, along with actors Jason Statham and Efren Ramirez, appeared at the 2006 Comic-Con Convention in San Diego, California. The panel showed a short clip and promoted the film, mentioning that it was shot in HD and that no wires or CGI were used for the stunt scenes.[5]
The filmmakers also made extensive use of web advertisement to promote the film. Lions Gate Films bought a featured spot on the home page of YouTube and paid several of its well-known members to advertise. Independently, Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor and Efren Ramirez appear in a vlog by a user known as biostudentgirl on YouTube as well as her personal site.
Box office and reception
On its first day of release, 1 September 2006, Crank earned $3.3 million, the day's highest earnings. In the film's first weekend, it earned $13 million, putting it at second place behind Invincible which earned $15.2 million. Crank grossed $27,838,408 at the domestic American box office, with another $15,092,633 in foreign box offices. In total Crank had worldwide receipts of $42,931,041,[1] a financial success on the budget of $12,000,000.
Reviews for Crank were mixed to positive, currently holding a 60% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film was released on August 22, 2006, by Sony Music.
DVD releases
The Region 2 version of the DVD was released December 26, 2006, but initially had no special features. The Region 1 DVD was released by Lionsgate on January 9, 2007. This DVD is available in separate anamorphic widescreen and fullscreen editions, each with Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 tracks. The bonus materials includes running cast and crew audio commentary, behind-the-scenes footage, gags, maps, making-of insights, and interviews with the cast. These features are all accessible via the "Crank'd Out Mode" - a pop-up window feature that allows access to the extras without ever leaving the film. The DVD also includes a "family friendly" audio replacement, in which the film is dubbed over as it would appear on a television broadcast. However, the violence, language subtitles, and nudity are still the same.
Sequel
Crank: High Voltage is the sequel to Crank. It picks up seconds after the first film left off. It seems that the poison in Chelios' body has worn off, but retains the gimmick of the first movie; he now has an artificial heart which he must keep charged with electricity to stay alive.
References
External links
