Crank

When I first heard of this film I thought what a great idea for a film pitch - Its the Keanu Reeve classic "Speed" but without the bus, a deadly poison instead of the bomb, and Jason Statham instead of Keanu.....and that's exactly what the film is.

With the amusing Greek name Chev Chelios, Statham plays a hitman who wakes up to find he's been poisoned in his sleep. The poison will slow down his heart until it stops and the only way he can stay alive and get his revenge is to keep his heart rate up.

So cue fights, drug taking, sex in public, more fights, crazy stunts and some more fighting and you have the film pretty much summed up in a single sentence, which makes you wonder how short the pitch lasted for it to be agreed. There is a nice bit where he overdoses on a possible remedy only to find he then has to find a way to slow his heart rate down.

If you leave the brain at home you'll enjoy this film, and it should do well with the FHM crowd. To be honest, the director does try to employ some amusing, if over the top visual tricks, the best being subtitles telling you what a chinese guy is saying but shown from the point of the view of the speaker, not the recipient. It was also interesting to see Google Earth used as an indication of Chev's travels around L.A.

I did enjoy the film and did laugh a lot and it is actually one of the better films of the many I've seen this year.