Crank (film)

Crank is a 2006 American action film directed by Neveldine/Taylor in their directorial debuts. It stars Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Efren Ramirez, and Dwight Yoakam. The title of the film comes from a slang word for methamphetamine. In the film, Chev Chelios (Statham), a L.A.–based hitman, is poisoned by a synthetic drug and must keep his adrenaline flowing constantly in order to keep himself alive, while trying to track down the culprits responsible for poisoning him. It was followed by a sequel titled Crank: High Voltage.

Plot
Chev Chelios, a L.A.–based hitman, works under Don "Carlito" Carlos's crime empire. Chelios is contracted by Carlito to kill Don Kim, a mafia boss, as members of the Triads have been encroaching on Carlito's business. Chelios goes to Don Kim and apparently kills him. In the confusion, Ricky Verona, an ambitious small-time criminal, uses the opportunity to conspire with Carlito against Chelios: Verona will kill Chelios so the Triads won't retaliate, and then take Chelios's place as Carlito's newly hired gun.

While Chelios sleeps in his apartment, Verona and his brother Alex, along with several henchmen break into the apartment and inject Chelios with a Chinese synthetic drug, which inhibits the flow of adrenaline, slowing the heart and eventually killing the victim. Chelios wakes to find a recording left by Verona showing what he has done. A furious Chelios calls Doc Miles, a mafia surgeon, and Miles informs Chelios that to survive he must keep his adrenaline pumping through constant excitement and danger and is unsure if the antidote exists.

Chelios keeps up his adrenaline through risky and dangerous acts, which include picking fights with other gangsters and police, reckless driving and motorcycling, taking illegal drugs and synthetic epinephrine and having public sex with his girlfriend Eve. Chelios visits Carlito at his penthouse and asks him to help find an antidote as well as to find and kill Verona and his crew. Carlito says there is no antidote and only confirms that Carlito and Verona are working together. Carlito tells Chelios that he will use his death as a scapegoat against the Chinese.

An angered Chelios leaves Carlito's penthouse to find Verona. Through a transvestite named Kaylo, Chelios finds Alex at a restaurant and unsuccessfully interrogates him about his brother's whereabouts before killing him. Chelios phones Verona through Alex's phone and tells him of his brother's death, prompting Verona to send thugs after Eve as revenge. Chelios rushes to pick up Eve before Verona's thugs get to her. Chelios reveals his true profession to her and that he was planning to retire to spend more time with her. Kaylo, who has been kidnapped by Carlito's men, is forced to call Chelios and tell him that Verona is at a Triad warehouse.

Chelios goes there, finding Kaylo's corpse and the henchmen. They reveal that Carlito ordered them to kill Chelios. Eve, who has followed Chelios, unexpectedly arrives, but then escapes with Chelios after a shootout with Carlito's henchmen. Chelios and Eve go to Doc Miles's place, where Miles explains that he cannot cure Chelios. Knowing that he will die soon, Chelios decides to take his revenge on Verona and arranges a meeting with him at a downtown hotel. Chelios goes to the rooftop of the hotel and meets with Verona, Carlito and his henchmen.

Carlito takes out a syringe, filled with the same poison, and is about to kill Chelios by injecting the second dose into him, but Don Kim, who is alive as Chelios spared him, arrives with his Triads to assist Chelios and a shootout follows. During the battle, several of Don Kim's and all of Carlito's men are killed. Carlito tries to escape with his private helicopter, but Chelios manages to catch up to him and holds him at gunpoint. Before Chelios can kill Carlito, Verona sneaks behind and injects Chelios with the syringe after which Chelios collapses.

Carlito is betrayed by Verona, who shoots him dead and tries to escape with his helicopter. However, Chelios manages to board the helicopter and engages in a fight with Verona. After some struggle, Chelios manages to pull Verona out of the helicopter. While mid-air, Chelios proceeds to snap Verona's neck, killing him. While falling, Chelios calls Eve on his cell phone to apologize for not coming back. Chelios lands in the middle of an intersection, but manages to survive the fall.

Cast

 * Jason Statham as Chev Chelios
 * Amy Smart as Eve Lydon
 * Jose Pablo Cantillo as Ricky Verona
 * Carlos Sanz as Carlito
 * Dwight Yoakam as Doc Miles
 * Efren Ramirez as Kaylo
 * Keone Young as Don Kim
 * Reno Wilson as Orlando
 * Edi Gathegi as Haitian Cabbie
 * Sam Witwer as Henchman
 * Jay Xcala as Alex Verona
 * Chester Bennington as Pharmacy stoner (cameo)
 * Glenn Howerton as Doctor
 * Valarie Rae Miller as Chocolate
 * Noel Gugliemi as Warehouse Rooftop Hood

Production
The film was written in 2003 with Johnny Knoxville in mind for the lead role, but Jason Statham came on board. Rather than being shot on 35mm film like most films at the time, the filmmakers of Crank opted to shoot on digital videotape, using Canon XL2 and Sony CineAlta HDC-F950 cameras.

The film was shot on location in Los Angeles. 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. Statham did all fight and car stunts on his own, including the fight in a helicopter 3,000 feet above Los Angeles.

Music
The soundtrack for the film was released on August 22, 2006. Allmusic gave the album three out of five, stating "What is here is imaginative, creative and head-scratchingly cool. While it's a very tacky and overly obvious thing indeed to end with the Jefferson Starship tune 'Miracles' (why not just give away the ending, huh?), this set is pretty much unassailable."

Marketing
Neveldine/Taylor, along with 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. The filmmakers also made extensive use of web advertisement to promote the film. Lionsgate bought a featured spot on the home page of YouTube and paid several of its well-known members to advertise.

Box office
Crank opened on September 1, 2006, in North America in 2,515 theaters. It grossed $10,457,367 on its opening weekend and was ranked at No. 2 at the box office, behind Invincible. The film ended up grossing $27,838,408 domestically and $15,092,633 internationally for a total of $42,931,041, on a $12 million production budget.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 62% based on 99 reviews, with an average rating of 6.10/10. The website's consensus for the film reads, "Crank assaultive style and gleeful depravity may turn off casual action fans, but audiences seeking a strong dose of adrenaline will be thrilled by Jason Statham's raucous race against mortality." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

Lionsgate chose not to screen the film for critics or the press prior to its theatrical release. Some filmmakers and actors singled out Crank (and its sequel) among their favorite Statham films, including Seth Rogen, Rupert Grint, Simon Pegg, James McAvoy, Edgar Wright and Gareth Evans.

Home media
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. The DVD is available in separate 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, but the violence, language subtitles and nudity are still the same.

Video game
A J2ME game was developed by Silverbirch Studios.

Sequel
A sequel titled Crank: High Voltage was released in 2009.