Crank
(Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C
With no
third Transporter on the horizon,
Jason Statham returns as yet another kinetic gun-welding guy who happens to
know martial arts and is supposedly cool in slow motion in Neveldine/Taylor’s Crank (2006). This time, he is a hitman named Chev, who has
been poisoned and will die in an hour.
That is all the time he’ll have to get revenge on who is responsible for
the supposedly irreversible poisoning.
With a
storyline ripped-off from the 1950 Film Noir classic D.O.A., it is nowhere near as interesting as the original or even
the lame remake from the 1980s. However,
we have seen much worse, but then the whole Action genre is in flux and does
not know what to do with itself. Here,
we have a borrowed gimmick and some energy.
At best, it is worth a look, but Statham has done better and only expect
so much. In that case, you might enjoy
some of it.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is yet another attempt to try to do a scope
frame with HD shooting and once again, it is lame. The image is harsh, colors phony and camerawork
like a thousand Music Videos we have seen before. Yet, its hit home video status is due to the
fact (if nothing else) that even this style break the pretentious monotony of
the Luc Besson-produced Transporter
films and that can only help.
The PCM
5.1 mix is here in place of the usual DTS Lionsgate has been adding to their
Blu-ray releases for whatever reason, but it has limits in the scope of its
surrounds and cannot match the DTS HD Master Audio on the Fox Blu-rays for the Transporter films. A lesser Dolby Digital 5.1 EX mix is also
included. Both have other limits from
the way they were mixed, with surrounds not always utilized and just a more
cramped soundfield in comparison to what it could have been, no matter the
budget. The EX channel makes up for only
so much. Extras include three
featurettes (Shooting…, Stunts Of…, Pushing…) with optional “clean” audio that
covers any expletives.
- Nicholas Sheffo
