Wow, this is surprisingly excellent. I mean, it's crap, but it's good crap, and that's worth a lot. The premise is basically Speed meets D.O.A. (the 1950 movie starring Edward O'Brien). Jason Statham (of the Transporter movies) is a hit-man who has a lethal Chinese poison coursing through his veins. If he slows down, if his adrenaline level drops, he drops dead. In his last moments, he rushes to find his killer and others responsible, snatching as many energy drinks and drugs as he can get his hands on along the way. This is some fun stuff, and hilarious, too. The editing is the MTV-style of many modern action movies, so avoid it if you can't stand that. I hope the directors, who also wrote the script, succeed even more so in the future.

Crank has been inspired by the film noir D.O.A that has been blended with Keanu Reeves action vehicle Speed.

Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) is a hitman who wakes and discovers that a rival hoodlum has injected him with a lethal 'Beijing cocktail' that will kill him.

Chev needs to keep his adrenaline pumping long enough to stay alive and also hunt down the man who did this to him before he dies.

Crank has a kinetic energy with its constant fast moving camerawork. There is plenty of violence. It is an absurd and ridiculous action film.

It also has its share of bad taste with its many ethnic stereotypes. At one point Chev has sex with his girlfriend in the middle of the chinatown to keep his heart pumping.

Despite the vulgarity it is stupidly entertaining as long as you switch off your brain cells.

CRANK is a post-modern Hollywood blockbuster in that it takes things backwards, actually appearing to be a low budget, poorly shot amateur movie. Every directorial trick in the book is thrown into the pot in this one, with crazy camera-work, hand-held cameras, shaky cams (worse than BLAIR WITCH!),POV shots, tracking, you name it. From the moment you see the crudely-drawn-on-a-computer title screen you know you're going to be in for a 'different' film and CRANK is very different in style. However, the plot is nothing new, and can basically be summed up as 'SPEED inside a human'. Jason Statham struts his action stuff as he goes on a rampage through the city, trying to keep his heart rate up by engaging in all kinds of antisocial behaviour. Thankfully the film only plays for eighty-odd minutes so the idea never becomes boring.

Now, I enjoyed the action stuff in this film. The stand-offs and shoot-outs are stylishly handled and realistic and there are some imaginatively gritty moments, like when a guy has his hand caught in a sewing machine! The acting is generally good, with lots of intense stuff from Statham and Cantillo as the slimy bad guy, but who cast Amy Smart as Statham's girlfriend? Seriously, the blonde bimbo girlfriend role is terrible in this film, an awful part and Smart is horrible in it. Seriously bad. You never believe for a second that Statham's character would go for such a girl.

Elsewhere the film contains plenty of comedy. Some of it is funny – the 'hand in a waffle toaster' gag is crude but effective, and the chopped-hand jokes are enjoyable. But the crude attempts at comedy are not so great, and a bit tired. I'm surprised Statham suffered the indignity of all the erection jokes and the sex-in-the-street scene is just embarrassingly bad. If it wasn't for the student-style laughs, CRANK would be an above-average action flick; as it stands, it's wildly uneven and inventive; half of it works, half of it falls flat. Worth watching but not more than once.