Crank is a movie that stars Jason Statham, the lead actor from The Transporter movies. It also stars Amy Smart as his girlfriend, who I swear I know from somewhere before. But looking at her resume on IMDB, I haven't seen anything she's been in... Maybe just her name sounds familiar.

Anyways...

The movie has an interesting plot: a hitman is poisoned in his sleep, and only has an hour or two to live. He quickly discovers that adrenaline can prolong his life, so while trying to exact his revenge he keeps having to find ways to pump up his adrenaline.

OK, let's start with the good bits of this movie.

* It was funny. There were several places where the audience broke out laughing. So for an action movie, some genuinely funny moments is a nice twist. 

* The cinematography was innovative. If you want to see an example of bad cinematography, take a look at Bourne Identity 2 - the camera was jumpy, and the action sequences were blurry. I thought Crank had some interesting camera shots. In one scene, Statham runs down an alley while one of his killers is on the phone with him. He actually runs past a video projection of that person on the phone. I thought that was a cool technique I hadn't seen before.

* It delivers on the action. So I went to this movie hoping to see some fights and car chases, and that's what I got.

Now let's be honest and talk about the bad bits too:

* Some plot holes. Well, let's be honest. The guy is given a poison that should kill him within an hour. Even though he discovers that when his heart is pumping and his adrenaline is running, it reduces the effect of the poison... there were plenty of places in the movie where his adrenaline should be lower. He's sitting in a restaurant with his girlfriend having lunch --- why isn't he keeled over on the floor from the effects of this poison? Lots of driving, lots of cab rides... The times when the poison affected him were not consistent...

* The poison itself. If you're going a kill a guy, kill him. Shoot him in the head or something. But why inject him with poison and leave a DVD movie for him to learn about his impending fate? Now I guess some bad guys have a huge ego, and love torturing people a little bit or rubbing it in someone's face that they are about to die. The movie never really explains the "why" of it's central plot theme.

(Well, I guess there wouldn't be a movie if they killed him in his sleep... that's a factor.)

Anyways, this is a decent movie. See it on DVD. Or download it. 6.5 out of 10.