Crank (2006)

On the strength of Jason Statham's Transporter movies, I bought Crank on clearance and finally watched it. Yikes! I'm fine with Crank's Transporter meets Run Lola Run angle and even the shaky cam. I'll gloss over its garish special effects. The problem with this film is that it promises adrenaline (and delivers a copious amount of it) but its plot has gaping holes you could drive a Mack truck through. The premise: Statham is a hit man who has been overpowered by bad guys and injected with a drug that should kill him within the hour. Dwight Yoakum is a medical friend who tells him, in dribs and drabs by cell phone, to keep his adrenaline pumping if he wants to survive. So Statham begins a nonstop sleuthing chase to catch the bad guys, demand an antidote, or whatever works out in the end. The thing is, running equals adrenaline; smashing up a place equals adrenaline; jumping into a cab and riding to the next scene does not equal adrenaline -- and this movie is inconsistent with how many minutes of inactivity that Statham experiences before he begins to fade (and needs to whip up more adrenaline). I may watch it again someday but Crank used a patina of thrills to cover up one too many yawns for my taste. 3.5 stars.