Customer Reviews

Crank 2: High Voltage

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(53)

 

 

I enjoyed how unique the first Crank film was and this sequel is even more wild, but I liked it a lot less. Crank: High Voltage is a roller coaster ride that last 85 minutes and features some really gross scenes. For example, a guy getting a shotgun rammed up his rear end isn't even in the top three weird moments in this flick. There was one scene where a guy had to punish himself for letting his boss down, which I had to turn my head and look away (I can't remember the last time I did that). There is almost zero realism here, much like the original, only multiplied by a hundred. Jason Statham is the main action star in the business right now and he is pretty good at what he does. He went all out here and I'm sure he has nothing but bruises and a nice paycheck to show for it. The large supporting cast was better than average and Amy Smart was especially yummy. If you liked Crank (2006) you will probably enjoy this one well enough, but I think they should put this series to rest. Judging by the ending during the credits, I'm sure we can expect Crank 3-D: Zombie Chev in the near future.

An excellent sequel that manages to not only surpass the 1st in excessiveness,(e.g. action, violence, crude yet humorous dialogue,) but also turn out to be an excellent film simultaneously. It does more than just pick up where the first movie left off, it actually incorporates the last 5-minutes or so to make one of the more seamless transitions I have ever seen in a movie-arc. While not family friendly, for the bachelor(ette) looking to amuse oneself with a hypothetical classic, "what if Superman & the Terminator got in a fight..." realization, this film does not disappoint. And, like all of Jason Statham's movies the non-stop cinematic action overflows like a volcanic eruption. Sure the plot is shallow but the creative applications of violence, no matter how unrealistic, make for a good show that overall deserves 4-stars. So why the 1-star rating you ask? It is because the distributors decided to make the disc unplayable on, literally,90% of all conventional BD-players. BD-version of the movie will only play back correctly on Profile 2 Blu-ray players with internal memory (or connected external USB).If you try play the disc on a Profile 2 player without sufficient memory available, the film itself will be visible only in a small, distorted onscreen window. To rectify the problem 1GB+ external memory need to be added to your player. Interestingly, older Profile 1.0/1.1 machines will not have a problem as that hardware lacks any BD Live functionality. Additionally, if you own a PS3, the title plays without problems. Lionsgate has admitted to the issue with the disc, but denied the Studio was at fault; curious as while it common for Blu-ray owners to be notified that not all functionality may be available on particular players, due to memory constraints, this is the first disc I am aware of, that restricts access to the movie itself. My recommendation...by the standard DVD, and watch it on your BD-player; it will up-convert anyway.

This movie made me feel like I was high and drunk while watching an action film, I don't really know how to explain that, but it was an awesome feeling. I also thought it was extremely hilarious and it was a really good sequel. After three months, Chev Chelios is back in action, and tries to find his heart before he dies. Doc Miles tells him that the Chinese gave him an AbioCor Artificial heart, and he must keep it charged, or he will die. He has jumper cables helping him, rubbing up against an old woman, makin' sweet love to his girlfriend, Eve on a horse race track, and grabbing electric wires. I highly recommend CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE!!!

I enjoyed the first Crank movie. It was silly and fresh, and it had a good sense of humor about itself.
Since it begins with the resurrection of a dead protagonist who survived poisoning and a helicopter plummet, Crank 2: High Voltage obviously needs to be even more tongue-in-cheek, and it is. It's as knowingly silly as a movie about a action-hero with a faulty mechanical heart can be. HOWEVER, it is extremely vulgar and gross...the violence, language and nudity is all excessive. You may find it entertaining, I just fast-forwarded to the ridiculous end. I expect Crank 3: Hypoglycemia to come next spring.

I wish I'd read some of these reviews before I bought this, but I was excited to see these movies in all their HD splendor.
I should have kept my DVDs.
Unfortunately, Crank 2 doesn't work on my Blu-ray player, even with a thumbdrive plugged in as someone suggested. All I can see is a 4" square picture in the middle of my TV screen.
But it sounds nice.

High Voltage is essential for those that like their junk movies tasteless and baseless. I for one is pretty versatile when it comes to films and for those who know me can vouch for it. After I'd seen Crank 1 I couldn't wait to see Crank 2. It moves at such a frantic pace that you will probably miss a few things during the first viewing so I had to see it twice.

For those of you who don't know story wise, don't sweat it. It's just as bad as the previous installment. Voltage beings where the original ended with the Stath falling a mile from a helicopter and bouncing off a parked car - dead presumably, but no because the Chinese warlord responsible for his original poisoned predicament has Staham's Chev Chelios scraped off the roadside and deposited in a makeshift surgical theatre where his heart, strong enough to survive the original film and so a desirable commodity for his wizened nemesis, is extracted and replaced with a battery powered stopgap designed to keep him alive and his organs fresh for transplantation. You'd be forgiven for losing the thread at this point but the movie is only 5 minutes old when Chelios thankfully regains consciousness and on Doctor's orders, begins a hunt for his real heart while subjecting himself to electric shocks to keep the temporary one functioning.

That, if you can believe it, is the setup, and you won't be shocked to learn that it's a fairly sober foundation for what follows. Shot on prosumer camcorders, Crank 2 is saturated in the promise of bargain basement vulgarity and doesn't disappoint. Edited with an eye for the absurd, it feverishly presses on across ninety monged out minutes in which guns are inserted into rectums, nipples sliced from torsos, fights segue into Godzilla style monsters battling against miniatures (with actors in caricatured masks of Statham and his enemy battling it out) and in the funniest sequence, Geri Halliwell appears in flashback as Mother Chelios, taking the young Chev to task on a talk show in which a few British cars and a reject from a mad max movie dressed as a British punk are dropped onto a Californian back lot for the least convincing but most enjoyable English flashback you've ever seen. Chelios may be a hard-line misogynist and causal racist, but there's something about the former Sydenham market trader that would make him likable. Jason Statham preforms brilliantly once again as Chev Chilos. But if you look closer to the film you will see cameo performance of Cory Haims(The Lost Boys) and David Carradine(Kill Bill).

Like I said if you can handle violence, blood, shootings, gratuitous nudity, foul and offensive language involving hilarious one liners from Jason Statham then give it a shot. It's a pure, mindless action taken beyond the extreme and I loved every minute of it.

If you liked the first 'Crank' film you may be a little jarred by this sequel as it really does completely take the original and go so far in to cartoon land that it may be hard for you to adjust to it. I found myself laughing at the insanely over the top approach in this new entry. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure if I need to own it. Maybe in a bargain bin some day as I'm sure it's heading for it as most folks will be turned off by this off the wall sequel. It's a cross between 'Spun', Shoot'em Up' and the original 'Crank'. If you're going to watch this film go in knowing it has all the credibility of a Road Runner cartoon!

Take two really, really warped filmmakers (Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor), an action star (Jason Statham) with a finely-tuned sense of the absurd, and a beautiful leading lady (Amy Smart) willing to have sex in public places...VERY public places...and you have the basic ingredients of "Crank 2: High Voltage", a gross yet hilarious trainwreck of a movie than actually succeeds in outdoing the insanity of the original "Crank". To say this film ISN'T for all audiences is an understatement; there is something here to offend nearly everybody! But if you have a 'gonzo' streak when it comes to action films, want to see really cutting-edge camerawork and editing, and don't mind an implausable plot, rampant bad taste and even worse language, you'll have a ball!

The storyline is simple; Chev Chelios (Statham) survived the thousand-foot fall from the helicopter at the end of "Crank", is kidnapped by Chinese who surgically remove his heart (replacing it with a temporary artificial one, until they can harvest his other organs...including his "Big English" attribute), but he recovers in time to beat up the surgical team and escape, spending the rest of the film brawling, shooting, and, uh, other things, while struggling to keep the temporary heart charged, in a race against time to recover his own.

This is a film that even Neveldine and Taylor admits was an excuse to see just how much they could get away with (including legendary porn stars on strike...a climactic fight in slow-motion, wearing caricatured masks...hot passion in the middle of a racetrack, with thousands watching...a talking, disembodied head...David Carradine as a very horny 100-year-old Chinese man...and wait to you see the variety of power sources Chelios utilizes), so keep a very open mind!

I don't even use BD-Live; yet they produced this so 2.0 version players require a minimum memory for this feature, and if you don't have it then you can't play this disc at all. Yet older players, that aren't BD-Live compatible, can play this no problem. I suggest getting the DVD if you really want this movie and just deal with the up conversion.

Be warned; this movie is gory and it is completely over-the-top, but that's what makes it fun. I promise you have never seen a movie like this one. If you want a movie that is true to life, this isn't the movie for you. If you want something that is real there are plenty of great documentaries out there. If you watch this movie and complain about how "unrealistic" it is then you're completely missing the point. The whole point of a movie is to be entertained, to escape reality for 90 minutes. Crank: High Voltage is an action-packed thrill ride. Jason Statham is awesome and he is the last true action star and he kicks all kinds of ass in this movie. The best in the business. You won't see a better looking movie on Blu ray. Great action and it's funny. What more could you want?