Sorry for the long break, I was in New York for a week and really didnt see a single film between the last post and now. I’ll try to get back to my usual output ASAP. Til then – Crank 2.

The first Crank was not a film based in reality. Jason Statham played a near indestructible hitman named Chev Chelios who was constantly provoking his poor poisoned heart to receive a jolt of adrenaline, or he would die. Which he did of course - he fell out of a helicopter and landed on a car at the end of Crank. But that doesn’t stop writers/directors Neveldine and Taylor from replacing his heart with a mechanical doo-dad requiring constant jolts of electricity, and sending him on a rampage across LA to find his real heart – which I guess works now.

Such a ridiculous set-up gives ample opportunity for Statham to discover novel ways of getting electricity into his heart doo-dad, and in the same way that it was fun to see how he was going to get his adrenaline pumping in the first film, these scenes are the best part of High Voltage. Whether it be by jumper cables, public sex, police tasers or rubbing against strangers for the static electricity, Statham’s actions grow increasingly bizarre. 

If you liked the first Crank and wonder how it compares to the second, I would say the acting is uniformly worse, especially in the case of Bai Ling and Napoleon Dynamites‘ Efron Ramirez, playing the brother of his character Kaylo in the first film. They both perform over-the-top caricatures, but the comedy mostly falls flat.

Another difference is that while the first Crank strode the line between action film and comedy, High Voltage is firmly seated in the comedy arena. There are breaks in the narrative for a Jerry Springer-esque talk show flashback, a character who has full-body tourettes for no apparent reason, and a Godzilla-like battle royale -with giant rubber suits modeled after the actors. My eyes rolled.

In fact, the overall writing seems to have suffered, perhaps from trying to stuff so much into such a flimsy plot, but at least you can’t say High Voltage is ever boring. There isnt a single moment where the action slows down, unlike Crank which took a bit of a dip in the name of character development (development shmevelopment) in its last act. High Voltage‘s last act culminates in an explosion of bullets, breasts and tastelessness thats sure to please many, but I was so indifferent at that point that I couldn’t tell if I was enjoying it anymore. 

There’s a market for this sort of callow comedy, no doubt, but it was a market that the Crank narrowly – very narrowly – avoided. High Voltage revels in its sophomoric cartooniness and you’ll either find it better or worse than the first film according to how you respond to such tastelessness. Either you will love watching them pack the screen with silliness, or the torrent of vulgarities will find you apathetic in minutes. Hopefully you can figure out which camp you’re going to fall into before you shill out 10 bucks.