It’s strange when a film as seemingly thoughtless as Crank 2 inspires so much thought. For someone who hasn’t seen anything from the franchise they probably appear to be big dumb action movies, with Jason Statham put in increasing situations of ridiculousness which he gets out of in increasingly violent ways, however I think there might be more to them than that. Any film which leads to me sitting in a pub afterwards trying to work out what genre I would put it into (Experimental Extreme Arthouse Exploitation was the best my slightly inebriated brain could come up with) is either doing something right or quite wrong.

To start out, Crank 2 continues in the same vein as the first – Jason Statham, as Chev ‘Fuck you’ Chelios, has his heart switched for an artificial one (in the last film he was poisoned) and must zap himself with electricity to keep the battery charged (previously he had to keep his heart rate high to stop the poison from killing him) while searching for his real heart (instead of looking for a cure). That’s about it. It’s a rather good premise for a dumb action movie, in my opinion, and simply as a dumb action movie it succeeds, but there is another way to look at it – as a self aware parody of dumb action movies, including itself.

From beginning to end the film is entirely morally objectionable. It is offensive to every group of people seen in the film – women, the chinese, people with tourettes, hispanic people…the list goes on – and everything that happens does so seemingly to shock, with porn star strikes, anally inserted shotguns, strippers with exploding boobs, the now obligatory public shagging and more. However, everything is pushed beyond the normal limits of this kind of film and combined with a wide streak of surrealism that permeates the aftermaths of Chelios’s increasingly large electric shocks it turns into something much more than it at first seems.

It’s stylish, with the look and feel combining elements of eastern extreme cinema with the canonical western action movie. Filmed in high contrast with closeup hand held cameras and wide lenses it is a sensory assault well suited for viewing in the cinema. The story sort-of holds together, as much as this level of ridiculousness can, and surprisingly does require the viewer to have seen the first film to get the most out of it. However even with prior knowledge you’ll probably spend most of the film looking confused. It’s funny on a number of levels, with stupid humour mixed with vaguely complicated self-referential and general parody, with a small pile of cameos to spot, from the obvious to the random, many of them being humorous specifically due to the cameoing person. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed myself, although felt guilty every time I grinned. Which was a lot.

In the end my opinion of the film comes down to how well I think it fulfilled its intention. If it was just meant to be a silly action movie then it succeeded but is wholly morally objectionable. However, if it was meant to be a film that says “Look at me! Look at how ridiculous this all is! Can we actually get any more offensive?!” then it succeeds and the objectionableness is seemingly blunted by that awareness. I’m still trying to work out why it becomes more acceptable to me if I think, as I do, that it was all intentional, but in the meantime I am very tempted to go and see it again.

It almost seems to be a companion piece to Michael Haneke’s ‘Funny Games’ (neither version of which I have yet managed to see) – in those the violent premise hides a stern looking Haneke pointing at the audience saying ‘This is your fault. If you were not watching then these horrible things would not happen. You are complicit. You are to blame”. In Crank 2 the filmmakers are saying pretty much the same, but they’re grinning as they do.

Anyway, here is a mildly edited email based conversation that we had over the last couple of days, concerning our love of the aforementioned great films.

Todd: http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=41054 – They’ve finally done it… combined Jason Stratham movies.  Outstanding. Wait, isn’t Transporter 3 actually Crank 2? Where Vin Diesel lives his life “a quarter mile at a time”. I’m so confused….

Billy: They all blend into one another after a while… Vin is in the “late Schwarzenegger” period of his career at the moment, acting with children and animals in alleged comedies. Soon he’ll start getting sequels to his successes (if any of his previous films can be counted as a success) and then retire to a life of groping women and playing at politics.

T: does Jason Stratham constantly live his life in jeopardy if he slows down/leaves his car?

B: He, like Chuck Norris, knows no fear and is immune to physical damage. He also never needs to slow down. See Crank for details.

T: I am waiting for Death Race on DVD, so I can do a WAR (w/Jet Li) / Death Race back to back

B: That may actually cause your heart to stop. I applaud your dedication to the cause. If you want a warm-up that might cause irreversible bodily harm, then I recommend Uwe Boll’s fantasy masterpiece, “In the Name of the King“. It’s got Ray Liotta and Burt Reynolds in it as well as Mr Statham starring with an “all-star” cast (Scooby Doo really killed Matthew Lillard’s career…), so it must be good…right? I just added it to my Lovefilm list, as I’ve not been brave enough to do so until inspired by your Death Race/WAR martyrdom.

T: Wait, Matthew Lillard had a career?  When did this happen?

B: It seems that yet again I have placed too much importance in the film ”Hackers“. A common mistake for me and one for which I apologise unreservedly…

T: Don’t discount “Hackers” – a film that introduced us to the “talents” of Angelina Jolie… Scooby Doo didn’t do anyone any favors (see Freddie Prinze Jr, Sarah Michelle Gellar, etc – or maybe that’s the point… you can’t see them anymore!)

B: SMG (excellent initials) was in Southland Tales, a film that I think everyone should see if only to get a taster of what too many drugs and a pile of cash can do to a film directory. See Revolver and The Fountain for further examples. Ms Gellar (or is it Mrs Prinze Jr these days?) is a rather dumb porn star in the film, a future for her that my little brother used to wish for rather loudly after a few beers.

This bit of Southland Tales was quite nicely done and slightly less surreal than most of the rest:

At the end of the film I was still not sure whether I liked it or not. I certainly had an experience, I’m just not sure if it was enjoyable. A bit like Takeshi Kitano’s latest movies but without anywhere near as much dancing. Still a little bit of dancing though.

I need to watch more Uwe Boll films – I still seem to not dislike him as much as the general populace and, as with my dislike of mushrooms and blue cheese, I think I need to work on this as I feel I am missing out on a key part of life.