Crank: High Voltage

Crank: High Voltage (alternately titled Crank 2: High Voltage) is a 2009 American action film written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. It is the sequel to the 2006 film Crank, and stars Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Clifton Collins Jr., Efren Ramirez, Bai Ling, David Carradine, and Dwight Yoakam. The story follows ex-hitman Chev Chelios, who, shortly after surviving a deadly fall on the streets of Los Angeles, is kidnapped and has his heart stolen by Chinese gangsters, replacing him with an artificial heart designed to keep him alive for an hour. Chev then sets out to find his heart while keeping himself electrically charged to stay alive. The film also features several cameo appearances of celebrities from various entertainment media.

Crank: High Voltage
Theatrical release poster
Directed byNeveldine/Taylor
Produced by
Written byNeveldine & Taylor
Starring
Music byMike Patton
CinematographyBrandon Trost
Edited byFernando Villena
Production
companies
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • April 15, 2009 (2009-04-15) (United Kingdom)
  • April 17, 2009 (2009-04-17) (United States)
Running time
96 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[2]
Box office$34.6 million[3]

The film was released in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2009, two days prior to its North American release date; April 17, 2009. Upon its release, Crank: High Voltage received positive reviews with many praising the acting, action sequences, humor, story and writing.

Plot

Chev Chelios lands in the middle of an intersection after falling out of a helicopter. He is scooped off the street by gangsters and removed from the scene. Chev wakes up in a makeshift hospital and sees doctors removing his heart while Johnny Vang watches. The doctors place an artificial heart in his chest. He wakes up later and escapes, noticing an external battery pack is attached to him. By interrogating a thug, he learns the location of Johnny Vang: the Cypress Social Club.

Chev calls Doc Miles, who says that Chev has been fitted with an AbioCor artificial heart. Miles informs Chev that once the external battery pack runs out, the internal battery will kick in and he will have 60 minutes before it stops working. Chev crashes his car, destroying the external battery pack. After getting directions from a driver, Chev has the driver use jumper cables on him to charge the internal battery. At the club, Chev loses Vang but picks up a hooker named Ria, who sends him to a strip club where Vang is hiding out. In the club, Chev finds Eve, who is now working as a stripper. A group of Mexican mobsters, led by Chico, show up looking for Chev. After a gunfight, Chev learns that a mobster named "El Hurón" ("The Ferret") wants to kill him, but he doesn't find out why.

Chev commandeers a police cruiser with Eve and another stripper. The stripper tells Chev that he should look at the Hollywood Racetrack for Johnny Vang. Along the way, Chev meets Venus, the brother of Chev's deceased associate Kaylo. Wanting his help, Chev tells Venus that El Huron was involved in his brother's death. At the horse track Chev begins losing energy again. Another call to Doc Miles informs him that friction will cause static electricity to power the internal battery. Eve arrives and has sex with Chev on the racetrack, which generates enough friction to charge the heart. Chev spots Vang and leaves Eve behind. Vang escapes, and Chev is about to be subdued by security when Don Kim picks Chev up in a limo. He informs Chev that there is a prominent leader in the Triads named Poon Dong, who was in need of a heart transplant and chose Chev's to replace his. Chev kills Don Kim and his henchmen upon learning that Don Kim wishes to return him to Poon Dong for a reward. Meanwhile, Venus calls in Orlando to assist in tracking down El Huron.

While searching for Vang, Chev boards an ambulance and steals a battery pack for his artificial heart. Chev exits the ambulance upon seeing Johnny Vang on the street outside and a shootout ensues before Chev subdues Vang. Chev learns that his heart has already been transplanted into Poon Dong. Johnny Vang is shot and killed by Chico as Chev questions him, and Chev is knocked unconscious. Doc Miles uses his secretary, Dark Chocolate, to lure Poon Dong into his apartment to kill him and retrieve Chev's heart.

Chev is taken to Catalina Island where El Huron awaits. It is revealed that El Huron is the brother of Ricky and Alex Verona, both of whom Chelios killed. El Huron also reveals that Ricky Verona's disembodied head is being artificially kept alive long enough to watch El Huron kill Chelios. Orlando, Venus and Ria suddenly arrive with backup, and a shootout ensues, killing most of El Huron's men. Ricky Verona's head is killed during the melee. As he starts to slow down, Chev climbs a nearby electric pole and grabs a pair of live wires to recharge, being set on fire by the massive current. He returns fully powered and beats El Huron to death. Due to a hallucination caused by the electric currents, he sees Ria as Eve and kisses her, inadvertently setting her ablaze. Chev walks towards the camera and gives the audience the middle finger.

During the end credits, Doc Miles replaces Chev's heart. Chelios's eyes open and his heart monitor indicates normal activity.

Cast

Celebrity cameos include Ron Jeremy, Ed Powers, Jenna Haze, Nick Manning, Lexington Steele, Chester Bennington, Glenn Howerton, Maynard James Keenan, Danny Lohner, Keith Jardine, Lauren Holly, and Lloyd Kaufman.

Production

The modest success of Crank at the box office and on home video had opened the possibility of a sequel for Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.[4] Even so, Neveldine and Taylor initially refused to direct one when approached by producer Skip Williamson of Lakeshore Entertainment, explaining that they had already "killed" Chev Chelios at the end of Crank, making the idea of a sequel preposterous. Instead, Neveldine and Taylor agreed to write the screenplay and stay on as producers.[5] After the script was completed, however, they agreed to direct as they believed no other director could possibly make what they had written. "We were going to write it, produce it and move on to something else. But by the time the script was finished, we had fallen in love with it and we were not going to let anyone else touch it," said Taylor.[6]

Filming lasted 31 days in Los Angeles, from April 28 to June 9, 2008.[7] Locations that were used include the Port of Los Angeles, Inglewood, East and Downtown Los Angeles, and the Los Alamitos Race Course where the sex scene between Chev and Eve was filmed.[7] To achieve the same "hyper-kinetic visuals" of the first film, Neveldine, Taylor and cinematographer Brandon Trost acted as camera operators and photographed using "prosumer" high-definition camcorders including Canon's VIXIA HF-10 and XH-A1. The size and weight of these cameras provided the directors mobility (especially when Neveldine filmed chase scenes with Rollerblades on), and allowed them to capture from hard-to-reach areas and wrap filming quickly.[7] Specialty rigs were also developed for the film,[8] one of which was a piece of speed rail bent 180 degrees and mounted with a total of eight cameras that lent a bullet-time look reminiscent of The Matrix.[7] Although the film looks noticeably handheld,[9] Fig Rigs were used to keep scenes as stable as possible.[7] Nearly 300 hours of footage was shot by the time filming was completed.[10]

Soundtrack
Main article: Crank: High Voltage (soundtrack)

Reception

Box office

Crank: High Voltage opened in 2,223 theaters in North America and grossed $6,963,565 with an average of $3,133 per theater and ranking #6 at the box office. The film ended up earning $13,684,249 domestically and $20,876,328 internationally for a total of $34,560,577.[3]

Critical response

The review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 64%, with a weighted average of 5.9 out of 10 based on 69 reviews from critics. The website's "Critics Consensus" says the film "delivers on its promises: a fast-paced, exciting thrill ride that doesn't take itself too seriously."[11] On Metacritic, the film earned "[m]ixed or average reviews," with a weighted average of 41 out of 100 based on 15 reviews.[12] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "C-" on a scale of A to F.[13]

One critic for The Guardian pointed out the film's "extreme misogyny and racism", and noted that although "nothing should be off limits in comedy", the film only amounted to "flashy, arrogant emptiness".[14]

Home media

Crank: High Voltage was released via DVD and Blu-ray on September 8, 2009 in the United States. At the DVD sales chart, Crank opened at No. 2, selling 305,000 units which translates to $5,345,078 in revenue. As per the latest figures, 827,000 units have been sold, acquiring revenue of over $15 million. This does not include Blu-ray sales or DVD rentals.[15] In Germany, the uncut DVD and Blu-ray was indexed on March 31, 2010.[16]

Possible sequel

Regarding a third film, actress Smart said "It's been talked about."[17] Smart also noted that Crank 3 might be made in 3D.[18] During an 'Ask me anything' on Reddit, Brian Taylor gave a possible 2013 release date for Crank 3.[19] In March 2015, Statham gave an update on the sequel, saying that he'd love to do it and he was waiting for Neveldine and Taylor to "get their heads together."[20] Statham stated that Neveldine and Taylor "have a loose idea. They haven’t written the script."[21][22] In January 2018, Brian Taylor stated it would "be a while" until there was a Crank 3 due to profitability concerns and high expectations.[23]

References
  1. "CRANK - HIGH VOLTAGE (18)". British Board of Film Classification. April 2, 2009. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  2. "Crank 2: High Voltage (2009) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  3. "Crank: High Voltage (2009)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  4. Neveldine & Taylor 2009, 0:46.
  5. Neveldine & Taylor 2009, 1:16–1:50.
  6. Production 2009, p. 4.
  7. Production 2009, p. 11–13.
  8. Neveldine & Taylor 2009, 22:36.
  9. Neveldine & Taylor 2009, 22:23.
  10. Neveldine & Taylor 2009, 20:56.
  11. "Crank 2: High Voltage". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  12. "Crank: High Voltage 2009". Metacritic. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
  13. "Cinemascore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  14. Larman, Alexander (April 29, 2009). "Is Crank: High Voltage the most offensive film in recent memory?". The Guardian. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
  15. "Crank 2: High Voltage - DVD Sales". The Numbers. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
  16. Gerald Wurm. "Indizierungen/ Beschlagnahmen M?rz 2010". schnittberichte.com. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  17. "Amy Smart Talks Crank 3 Possibilities". io9. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
  18. "Crank 3 Coming At You In Three Dimensions". Cinema Blend. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
  19. Taylor, Brian (February 18, 2012). "Reddit AMA". Reddit. Reddit.
  20. "EXCLUSIVE: Jason Statham Offers Update On Crank 3". We Got This Covered. March 15, 2015.
  21. Gregory Wakeman (April 2015). "Jason Statham Still Really Wants To Make Crank 3". Cinema Blend.
  22. Darren Franich (April 2, 2015). "Jason Statham talks 'Furious 7'...and 'Crank 3'". Entertainment Weekly.
  23. PATRICK CAVANAUGH (January 5, 2018). "'Crank' Co-Director Details Why We Won't See 'Crank 3' For A While". Comicbook.com.

Sources
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