Crank Information

Crank is a 2006 American action film written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor and starring Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Efren Ramirez and Dwight Yoakam.

The plot centers on a British hitman in Los Angeles named Chev Chelios who is poisoned and must keep his adrenaline flowing constantly in order to keep himself alive, and in so doing causes mayhem, gets into fights with other gangsters, has altercations with the police, and takes numerous drugs. The film's title comes from the slang word for methamphetamine.

Produced and distributed by Lakeshore Entertainment and Lions Gate Films, it was released in the United States on September 1, 2006 in 2,515 theaters. The film was generally well received.

Plot

Carlito (Carlos Sanz) leads a wealthy and influential Mexican-American crime syndicate in Los Angeles. Worried about encroachment from a Chinese syndicate, Carlito orders the contract killing of their leader, Don Kim (Keone Young). Carlito's best hitman, a Briton called Chev Chelios (Jason Statham), is given the job. However, after the hit, the anger of the Chinese is much greater than Carlito expected. Carlito regrets the hit, deeming it "ill-advised". Carlito tells the Chinese the hit had nothing to do with him, and he will remove the elements in his own organization who were responsible.

Ricky Verona (Jose Pablo Cantillo), a small time criminal and long-time rival of Chelios, uses the opportunity to conspire with Carlito against Chelios. While Chelios sleeps in his apartment, Verona breaks in and injects Chelios with a synthetic drug (referred to once as "The Beijing Cocktail" and every other time as "The Chinese Shit") inhibiting the flow of adrenaline, slowing the heart and eventually killing the victim. Chelios wakes to find a recorded video explaining that Chelios should have about an hour left before the poison stops his heart.

Chelios phones Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam), a personal physician to the Mafia, who informs Chelios that in order to survive he must keep his adrenaline pumping through constant excitement and danger, or get some artificial adrenaline, epinephrine. With his own adrenaline keeping the poison at bay at first, Chelios breaks into a hospital and steals numerous drugs, much more than Doc Miles advises him to take and also gets "juiced" by a hit from a defibrilator. He also keeps his adrenaline up through reckless and dangerous acts like picking fights with other gangsters, stealing things, committing robberies, fighting with police, having sex with his girlfriend in public and driving a car through a shopping mall.

The entire film takes place in a single day, on November 7, 2005, over the course of which Chelios sets out to find Verona and his street gang through Chelios' street contact Kaylo (Efren Ramirez), a flamboyant homosexual. Chelios also picks up his girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart) before Verona's thugs get to her. Chelios attempts to sexually assault Eve while she strongly resists in the middle of a busy street in Chinatown, while hundreds of people look on, in order to keep his adrenaline up; she eventually appears to consent and they proceed to have sex, still amidst a crowd of onlookers.

It's eventually revealed that Chelios spared Don Kim's life and told him to leave LA. Chelios arranges a rooftop meeting with Carlito, Verona, and their henchmen, who promise him a fake antidote. Don Kim arrives along with his Triads to assist Chelios, and a shootout follows, killing many of Carlito's men. Carlito himself is killed by Verona, who then tries to leave in Carlito's helicopter. The film concludes with Chelios' confronting Verona in the helicopter, out of which they both fall over the course of battle. Chelios breaks Verona's neck mid-air and, still falling, calls Eve on his cell phone, to apologize for not coming back. Chelios hits a car, bounces off it and lands right in front of the camera. In the last shot, it is implied that his adrenaline is indeed still flowing fast; his nostrils flare, he blinks, and two heartbeats are heard.

Cast

See List of Crank characters for more information

• Jason Statham as Chev Chelios
• Amy Smart as Eve Lydon
• Jose Pablo Cantillo as Ricky Verona
• Efren Ramirez as Kaylo
• Dwight Yoakam as Doc Miles
• Carlos Sanz as Carlito
• Keone Young as Don Kim
• Reno Wilson as Orlando
• Jay Xcala as Alex Verona
• Edi Gathegi as Haitian cab driver
• Chester Bennington as Pharmacy customer/Adrenaline junkie
• Valarie Rae Miller as Chocolate
• Glenn Howerton as Male nurse
• Noel Gugliemi as Warehouse Rooftop Hood
• Francis Capra as Warehouse Hood Leader
• Candice A. Buenrostro as Bikini Girl
• Samuel Witwer as Shootout Henchmen

Production

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. Jason Statham did all of his own fight and car stunts.

Crank has a number of notable references to video games, especially the early Grand Theft Auto series. In the opening credits there are flashes of arcade machine boot up sequences, and also the high score table of Robotron: 2084 (1982) is briefly displayed. Another example of this is Verona's sidekick is seen playing Berzerk (1980) in the car. The humanoid graphic of Berzerk is also displayed on the male toilet door Chev enters. At one point, Chev tells Eve that he is not actually a video game programmer. A short post credits sequence shows Chev running and shooting through a 16-bit style world drawn by pixel artist Miguel Sternberg and produced/directed by David Marks at Silverbirch Studios in Toronto. A J2ME "Crank" game was developed for Lions Gate, also produced and directed by David Marks at Silverbirch Studios. Many critics (such as those on Rotten Tomatoes) noted that Crank was more like a live-action video game than a film.

Marketing

Directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, along with actors 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. Lions Gate Films bought a featured spot on the home page of YouTube and paid several of its well-known members to advertise. Independently, Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor and Efren Ramirez appear in a vlog by a user known as biostudentgirl on YouTube as well as her personal site.

Reception

On its first day of release, 1 September 2006, Crank earned $3.3 million, the day's highest earnings. In the film's first weekend, it earned $13 million, putting it at second place behind Invincible which earned $15.2 million. Crank grossed $27,838,408 at the domestic American box office, with another $15,092,633 in foreign box offices. In total Crank had worldwide receipts of $42,931,041, a financial success on the budget of $12,000,000.

Reviews for Crank were mixed to positive, currently holding a 61% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film was released on August 22, 2006 by Sony Music.

DVD releases

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. This DVD is available in separate anamorphic 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. However, the violence, language subtitles, and nudity are still the same.

Sequel

See Crank: High Voltage for more information

Crank: High Voltage is the 2009 sequel to Crank. It picks up seconds after the first film left off. It seems that the poison in Chelios' body has worn off, but retains the gimmick of the first installment; he now has an artificial heart which he must keep charged with electricity to stay alive.