Crank 2 – High Voltage (2009/Lionsgate Blu-ray + DVD/both with Digital Copy)

 

Picture: B/C+     Sound: B/B-     Extras: D     Film: D

 

 

After his third Transporter film and fairing much better with The Bank Job (both reviewed elsewhere on this site), Jason Statham returns as Chev in the highly unnecessary Neveldine/Taylor sequel to their own hit Crank (2006) called Crank 2 – High Voltage.  The subtitle is about as clever as this mess gets.  For more on Crank so you can get up to speed, here is the link to our Blu-ray coverage:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4879/Crank+(2006/Blu-ray)

 

 

With no classic storylines to rip-off, we get a highly convoluted storyline that Chev has been kidnapped and is going to be harvested for his vital organs before he dies.  They take the heart first, replacing it with an artificial heart that is supposed to last just long enough to keep the organs, but he wakes up and goes on the kill.  The twist is that this heart is connected to a yellow power box, so he has electro-convulsions and lapses of energy that get in his ass-kicking ways.  Note there is no good script or dialogue in anyone’s way.

 

The action sequences are tired, the shaky camerawork never ends and neither do the clichés and very, very, very bad jokes.  Amy Smart, Clifton Collins Jr., the late David Carradine and some XXX stars are among those wasted in what seems like a much longer affair than 95 minutes because it goes on and on and on and on.  Statham can do better (like in the Death Race remake or The Bank Job) and the makers are not even trying to make this work.  It is a turkey and skipable.

 

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is not as noisy as the scope 2.35 X 1 first release, but that does not make it great-looking throughout either.  We still get our share of harsh, colors phony and camerawork like so many other features (now competing with the many Music Videos that started this) and the anamorphically enhanced DVD is much poorer in definition, depth and detail.  Also barely an improvement is the DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 7.1 mix over the PCM 5.1 mix form the first flick, in which Lionsgate goes rightly back to supporting DTS.

 

The sound is all over the place and has some dumb sound effects again that are supposed to be funny or something like that, but it is more noise than soundfield that helps the story, what little story is here.  A lesser Dolby Digital 5.1 EX mix on the DVD is not as good, but still has some good sonics to it.

 

Extras in both formats include two making of featurettes, audio commentary with the duo responsible for this mess and Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices.  The Blu-ray adds BonusView and MixLog interactive features exclusive to the format.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo