Crank: High Voltage (2009)

This movie takes up where its predecessor left off with a mob hit-man named "Chev Chelios" (Jason Statham) falling from a helicopter at a high altitude and crashing onto a street somewhere in Los Angeles. Then, seconds after hitting the ground, a van pulls up and quickly puts his body inside before driving off. He soon wakes up to find that his heart has been replaced with an electrical device and that the rest of his organs are about to be harvested as well. Naturally, he doesn't quite like that idea and escapes to find the man responsible--and possibly regain his own heart in the process. Now as far as this movie is concerned I must confess that I wasn't particularly impressed with its predecessor which I believed had a great deal of unrealized potential. Because of that I rated it as about average. This movie, however, also had some of the same characteristics of the first but unfortunately it was the bad similarities that predominated. To be more specific, anything other than profanity and mindless action was essentially thrown out the window to make room for more profanity and action. In short, other than possibly the performance of Bai Ling (as a prostitute named "Ria") there really wasn't anything interesting about this film. And even then she was just as foul-mouthed as everybody else. Regardless, I thought that this movie was pretty bad and I have rated it accordingly.

Jason Statham returns as Chev Chelios chasing a Chinese gangster who has taken his heart and substituted it with a mechanical one that needs a regular electrical charge.He hooks up with girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart) who he finds in a strip club. His physician Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam) gives advice over the phone and also searches for his heart as it seems that the head of the Triad gang has taken it.In his search Chelios takes on and mows down various ethnic gangs and sleazeballs and when his heart runs out of juice, he needs to find inventive ways to crank himself up.This is a frenetic fun filled action film that is at time outrageous, sordid, violent and at times very silly. Chelios has sex in a horse racing track in front of the racegoers and the big showdown is a surreal rip off from the Godzilla films.

I don't know what drug this murder was on. Crank 2 is so ridiculous, it becomes more so as the movie progresses, where by the end, you're so mind numbed by what you're witnessed, you're totally dumbfound, it makes the original look respectively good. Out of interest, it has me wanting to re watch the original. If only this sequel had to surface, and rob the first of it's dignity. It takes on moments later from where the first one finished, which Stratham (who I must admit can't act) taking that big fall is spared, in one of the most desperate and idiotic excuses for a sequel I've ever seen. Why couldn't we just let him fall and die, which would of been the writers prior intention. But later sequel temptation must of got the best of him. Stratham's old heart is replaced with an artificial heart, where he must keep cranking it, anyway he can, through battery voltage, or strenuous public sex with his hot girlfriend Eve. The violence is totally off the wall, some of it sheerly sick, one scene involving nipple slashing. One reason to see it, is due to it's late star, 80's heart throb, Haim, as a bouncer, looking much worse for ware. But given that, it's a great insane flick, real cheesy, with action aplus, but too is just so ludicrous which does walk a style in ludicrous respect. I mean that head, minus everything else, kept alive in that battery acid tank, while being attached to electrodes, was like the last straw. But look at this movie as just a time passing, 'leave your brain at the door flick'.

While the first movie was merely contrived surrealism, this one is utterly insane. Right after crashing to the ground, the Chinese gang scrapes Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) off the ground, and harvests his heart. He's left with an artificial heart that needs recharging every hour. Now he must track down his heart and get it back.Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are doubling down on this crazy franchise. It gets more ridiculous, more outlandish, and more ADD. Amy Smart and Dwight Yoakam return for more. Then the B-list cameos start coming. Crazy Bai Ling is always good for her insanity. And who hasn't wanted to run her down with a car?The jokes aren't as funny this time around. While the craziness keeps coming, the action does slow down. In the first movie, he dies if he slows down. But in this one, he's suppose to slow down as the battery dies. The manic energy isn't quite so manic in this one.