Crank

Jason Statham

Lionsgate, 2006

I've liked watching Jason Statham kick butt ever since I saw the Transporter, so of course, this "adrenalin-fueled thrill ride" and "hardcore action classic" (as the credits on the box claim) delivers. Yes, it's an hour and a half of pure action. Good stuff.

PLOT: hit man in LA gets injected with chemical that inhibits adrenalin and will kill him if he doesn't keep running (it's sort of like the movie Speed, only Statham is the bus) - so he's got only about an hour or two to get back at the mobsters and thugs who did this to him before he croaks.

A little heavy on the gratuitous blood spurting out of headwounds and chopped hands, etc. A little too much of the insipid girlfriend (you wonder how he could have actually fallen for her) but some of the best moments are the dialogue between him and his "doctor" (Dwight Yoakum) and what happens to one poor cabbie when he absconds with the man's vehicle.

All in all, not as good as some of his other films, and again it's a little "too" violent, but if you want action, this is a good one to watch.

VG