Cast: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Carlos Sanz, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Efren Ramirez Directors: Brian Taylor, Mark Neveldine Rating: Studio: Lions Gate Films DVD Release Date: January 9, 2007 Run Time: 87 minutes Rate this movie! 1 2 3 4 5 (6 Votes)

Crank is a 2006 action / thriller film, written and directed by both Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. The film stars Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Efren Ramirez and Dwight Yoakam. It was released in the United States on September 1, 2006 in 2,515 theaters. The film was rated R by the MPAA for strong violence, pervasive language, sexuality, nudity and drug use.

SYNOPSIS

Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) is about to begin his morning with an unexpected wake-up call. Groggy, practically unable to move and with a heart that's barely beating, he hears the voice of thug Ricky Verona, who reveals Chev has been poisoned in his sleep and only has an hour to live.

As it turns out, Chev is a hit man who freelances for a major West Coast syndicate. A run of the mill job the night before instead went awry: he let his target slip away in an effort to quit professional killing and start a new life with his girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart).

Now, Chev must keep moving to stay alive: the only way to prolong the poison from stopping his heart is to keep his adrenaline flowing. As the clock ticks, Chelios cuts a swath through the streets of Los Angeles, wreaking havoc on those who dare stand in his way. He must rescue Eve from danger, stay two steps ahead of his nemeses and search for an antidote to save his own life.

The film's plot and action are reminiscent of video games, and the film makes frequent references to video arcade games. The opening credits feature 1980s-style video game graphics and include an arcade-style highscore screen, with the first four entries being FUC, YOU, ASS, HOL in that order. After the end credits, a video game sequence shows Chev running around and shooting gangsters, then dying in the street. A blinking message then reads, "Insert coin to continue. (press 5)," "5" is the default key used to insert coins in the MAME emulator. Various scenes in the film show images or characters from the video game Berzerk, a classic arcade game with the grim reputation as one of the few games where a person has died from heart problems while playing it. When Verona gets the final call from Chev about where to meet, it can be seen that the guy sitting next to him is playing Berzerk. Amy Smart's character Eve believes Chev to be a video game programmer before he confesses that he is a hitman.

Film critic Brian Orndorf from FilmJerk.com called Crank "The latest stab by Hollywood to cash in on the violent video game craze".

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