Crank: High Voltage

It starts out as an over-the-top action comedy. From there it crashes through to preposterous, surreal, looney-tunes, and eventually devolves into crazy-ass, Douglas Adams-style Science fiction. Unlike the first movie, the strange departures from the plot were distractions here rather than treats. Flashbacks to Jason Statham’s childhood, etc. seemed designed to fill time rather than mine a laugh. Statham stays on message, fully committed to his fucked-up comedy bits. He’s much more awake here than in Transporter 3. Amy Smart (always’ve liked her) has fun with her role, too, and should get some kind of medal for being a good sport. But ultimately, when the movie is no longer grounded in any kind of reality, it’s impossible to care if Statham ever gets his heart back. So the whole thing feels like a mess.