Crank 2: High Voltage

Jason Statham has become an action star ever since his breakout role in Guy Ritchie's, Snatch. If one looks over his IMDB page there is a long list of action flicks, most of which are negligible. He's been in three Transporter movies and is now starring in a second Crank movie, reprising his role as Chev Chelios. I must admit, I haven't seen a Transporter movie in it's entirety, nor have I seen the first Crank. I did, however, see the last half hour of the second Transporter on cable once. I don't feel too bad for not seeing them because the movies' trailers all look the same.

Here's the trailer for Crank 2: High Voltage:



The new movie picks up right where the old one left off. Chev Chelios gets his organs harvested by some Asian crime syndicate. The doctors only manage to swap out Chelios's heart with a temporary one before he wakes up and kills them. The charge on Chelio's temporary heart battery will only last for an hour. Tension and high speed chases ensue.

The premise is a bit silly, but this isn't a movie intent on delivering realism. I can accept that. The trailer promises a lot of action and a few laughs, which is the standard model for most action movies. The problem I have with the laughs portion of the movie is that it seems to stem from a silly, camp kind of comedy rather than dark or dry humor. I have nothing against camp, but when its coming from a grizzled man who has to electrocute himself to stay alive, I'm not sure the comedy will play off that well.

The one scene in the trailer that had me most worried about the comedy aspect of the movie is when Chelios asks the gangster guys to juice him up with their car battery. It looks like another one of those, "Man, that white boy be crazy, ese!" type moments where the hard ass thugs who were about to beat up the protagonist find a new sense of respect for him because he attached jumper cables to his nipples. Its been done before and is a standard comedy trope that wore out its welcome a long time ago.

The action sequences have a lot of quick cuts, which also worries me. While action scenes need a lot of camera movement to keep the momentum going, they can also be used to make boring shots look more exciting than they are. (i.e. MTV's Cribs. How do you make a shot of a refrigerator filled with Crystal Light more interesting? Lots of jump cuts.)

If I may take a minute to be artsy, I think that the movie would be a lot more interesting if it actually took place in real time. Chelios only has an hour to live. Why not make an hour long movie? Or, give him two hours to live, and make the movie two hours. It could have a "24" like format, playing out in real time. The story would then be driven be a very real sense of tension and not have to be so reliant on explosions and car chases. I have nothing against chases, but ninety minutes of explosions does not make a movie. Putting my high brow tendencies aside, I think this will be a pleasing enough popcorn flick, albeit one that relies too heavily on formula and easy laughs.


B-

17 Again

I've decided to make movie reviews a regular part of my blog. Due to the economic downturn and my general lack of funds, the reviews will be based solely on the trailer. It's kind of gimmicky, but it's also really cheap to do, so why not? Also, I'm curious to see how my trailer reviews compare to critics who actually see the whole movie. Once official reviews come out, I might post a link to them.

My inaugural review will be on the Zac Efron vehicle, 17 Again. The movie also stars Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, and Michelle Trachtenberg. Here's the trailer:



If the trailer has you saying, "Hey, this looks kind of familiar," that's because it's a grab bag of cliched moments from other movies such as, Big, 13 Going on 30, Mrs. Doubtfire, It's a Wonderful Life, and Freaky Friday. It looks to be another one of those movies where a work-driven dad is too focused on success and ignores his family. It is only when trouble starts brewing at home does he realize he should have done things differently.

The story arc, according to the trailer, goes a litle something like this:
While hitting his emotional rock bottom and crossing a bridge at night, while it's raining (gee, i've never seen that before), Perry tries to save the wily, old janitor's life when it looks like he is going to jump off and commit suicide. Lo and behold, Perry's character falls off the bridge and into a magical time warp. When he gets back home, he finds himself to be 17 years old again. This is just what he needs to reconnect with his kids and relive his life the way it should have been the first time (aka learn important life lessons and explain said lessons in awkward monologues to his family just in time for a heart-warming, completely unearned happy ending). Take this line for the movie, for example: "It's not about me. It's about helping Alex and Maggie."

Matthew Perry seems to be playing his Chandler Bing character from Friends, except this time around he has two teenage kids. Thomas Lennon, of Reno 911! and The State fame, plays Perry's best friend and goofy partner in crime. Leslie Mann, a Judd Apatow movie regular (it helps to be married to the guy) plays Perry's wife. The real star, of course, is High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron. He, again, gets to play the role of a completely neutered, plastic- skinned sex symbol. This time around he gets to tackle a guy and say witty lines like, "What are you wearing? You look like Clay Aiken." I guess the Clay Aiken bit is supposed to be a stab at self-aware, oh, so ironic comedy. It's a small diversion from the obvious fact that the guy just can't seem to get out of his pretty boy rut. Maybe he doesn't want to stretch beyond that comfort zone. Maybe he can't. His next movie is Footloose, afterall.

The only thing more unnatural looking than Efron's face (he would have been great in A.I.), is the movie's screenplay. As said earlier, it looks to be a by the numbers storyline with all the familiar plot points and superficial insights about family life; surly teenagers, a long-suffering wife, a wacky best friend, and a magical janitor. It has all the makings of a typical, feel-good movie, complete with requisite, Efron taking off his shirt moment. I think YouTube commenter, AboutTheMusicxo, said it best when she posted, "TAP THAT ;D." While she was probably referring to Zac Efron, it also aptly describes a movie whose creativity and hope for credibility were tapped out from the beginning.

Grade: C