Crank: High Voltage Spoiler

Crank: High Voltage, sometimes promoted as Crank 2: High Voltage on some regions and on DVD, is a 2009 American action/thriller film, and sequel to the 2006 action film, Crank. It picks up shortly after the first film left off, retaining its "real-time" feel and adding surrealism. Crank: High Voltage was written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who both wrote and directed the previous film. The film was released in the United Kingdom on April 16, 2009,[2] one day prior to its North American release date.

Plot

The film opens with a sequence designed to look like a classic video game, depicting Chev Chelios's fall from a helicopter during the final moments of the original film. Immediately after his fall, he is scooped off the street via snow shovel by a group of Chinese medics and removed from the scene.

He wakes up in a makeshift hospital and sees doctors removing his heart while Johnny Vang (Art Hsu) watches. The doctors place Chelios's heart in a white cooler with a padlock, and place a clear plastic artificial heart in his chest. Chelios passes out. He wakes up, three months later and escapes. He notices a yellow battery pack is attached to him. After a gunfight and interrogation of a thug, he learns the location of Johnny Vang - the Cypress Social Club.

Chelios calls Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam), who tells him that he has been fitted with an AbioCor Artificial heart. Once the external battery pack runs out, the internal battery will kick in and he will have 60 minutes before it stops working. He crashes his car right after the conversation, destroying his external battery pack. In order to keep going, Chelios has the driver of another car use his jumper cables on him, and runs to the Club.

He loses Vang at the club but picks up a hooker named Ria (Bai Ling) who sends him to a strip club where Vang is hiding out. In the club, Chev finds Eve (Amy Smart), now a stripper. A group of Mexican mobsters show up, wanting to find Chelios for reasons unknown. After a gunfight, Chelios learns that a mobster named "El Huron" ("The Ferret") wants to kill him, but he doesn't find out why.

Back outside of the strip club Chev is accosted by a gang of police officers who begin mercilessly beating him down with nightsticks. He is about to pass out when one of them inadvertently charges Chelios with a stun gun. This gives him a burst of superhuman strength and speed which allows him to escape.

Another stripper tells Chelios that he should look at the Hollywood Racetrack for Johnny Vang. They encounter a group of porn stars protesting low wages, and Chelios is again forced to flee, leaving Eve in the back of the cruiser. Chelios is picked up by Venus (Efren Ramirez), who reveals himself to be Kaylo's brother. It is revealed he also has "Full Body Tourette's." At first, Chelios tells Venus that he killed everyone responsible for his brother's death, but this prompts Venus to leave. Wanting his help, Chelios tells Venus that El Huron was involved but escaped.

At the horse track Chelios begins losing energy again. He learns that the heart can be charged through the skin by means of friction. Eve shows up and they have wild animal sex on the racetrack while the crowd cheers, and Chelios is restored to full power. Chelios spots Vang and once again leaves Eve behind. Vang escapes, and Chev is about to be subdued by security when Don Kim picks Chev up in his limo. He informs Chev that there is a leader in the Triads named Poon Dong (David Carradine), who was in need of a heart transplant. When he heard of Chelios's ability to withstand the Chinese adrenaline poison, he put out an order for Chelios's heart. Don Kim then tells Chev Chelios that he wishes to return him to Poon Dong for a reward. Upon hearing this, Chev kills all of Don Kim's henchmen, including the limo driver, and shoots Don Kim several times. Meanwhile, Eve is arrested, and Venus calls in Orlando (Reno Wilson) to assist in tracking down El Huron.

While driving, Chev is cut off by an ambulance. He boards the ambulance and is surprised to see the EMTs are working on one of Don Kim's bodyguards. He demands a new battery pack for his artificial heart, and the EMT is forced to stop working while he hooks it up. Chelios exits the ambulance upon seeing Johnny Vang on the street outside. Vang tries to escape in a car, but the car drives off without him, and Chev chases Vang to an electric plant, where there is a Godzilla-inspired fight between Chelios and Vang. Upon winning, Chev discovers that Vang's red cooler contains something other than his heart. Chelios learns via cellphone from Doc Miles that his heart has already been transplanted into Poon Dong. Johnny Vang is shot and killed by Chico as Chelios interrogates him, after which somebody knocks Chelios unconscious.

There is a dream sequence showing Chelios as a youngster, with his mother (Geri Halliwell) on the Luke Canard show talking about his violent tendencies as a boy. Eve is interrogated by police but refuses to rat him out. Doc Miles uses his assistant and sometime hooker "Chocolate" to lure Poon Dong in to his trap.

Chelios is awakened by electric shocks to his testicles and is dragged by speedboat to an island where El Huron awaits. El Huron explains to Chev that he is the third Verona brother, and is very upset that Chelios killed Ricky (Jose Pablo Cantillo) and Alex Verona (Jay Xcala). He reveals Ricky Verona's head being kept alive in a tank by a group of scientists, speaking in an electronic voice. Chelios is whipped for Verona's pleasure and is about to die when Orlando, Venus and Ria show up, each with their own group of gunfighters, and then all hell breaks loose.

Verona's tank is smashed open by Ria's gunfire and Chev kicks Verona's head into the swimming pool but starts to slow down. He climbs a nearby telephone pole and grabs a pair of live wires to recharge. He is flung off the pole and set on fire as well by the massive charge. Venus is fighting El Huron and is about to lose when Chev reappears. He beats El Huron to death and throws his body into the pool next to Ricky's head. In a hallucinogenic state, Chelios then tries to hug Ria (thinking she is Eve) but accidentally sets her on fire as well, and she runs off screaming. His flesh burning and his face melting, Chelios walks towards the camera, giving the middle finger to the audience in the final moment of the film.

As the credits roll by Doc Miles replaces Chev Chelios's heart. At first it looks like a failure but after everyone leaves Chelios's eyes open wide and his heart monitor indicates normal activity.

Cast

Main article: List of Crank characters

* Jason Statham as Chev Chelios/High Voltage
* Amy Smart as Eve Lydon
* Efren Ramirez as Venus
* Dwight Yoakam as Doc Miles
* Reno Wilson as Orlando
* Clifton Collins, Jr. as El Huron
* Bai Ling as Ria
* Art Hsu as Johnny Vang
* David Carradine as Poon Dong
* Geri Halliwell as Karen Chelios
* Jenna Haze as herself
* Ron Jeremy as himself (cameo)

Former child actor Corey Haim has a supporting role in the film. Also appearing in the film are porn stars Ron Jeremy, Ed Powers, Jenna Haze, Nick Manning, Lexington Steele, Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Glenn Howerton (both of whom had appearances in the first film), Tool/A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan, former Nine Inch Nails member Danny Lohner, UFC fighter Keith Jardine, actress Lauren Holly and the founder of Troma, Lloyd Kaufman. John de Lancie, of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame as Q, also appears at the start of the film as the newscaster.

Production

Mike Patton, of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle fame, produced the score for Crank: High Voltage.

Lions Gate Entertainment handled North American distribution of the film, while Lakeshore Entertainment handled international distribution.

Filming started in April 2008. The production budget was less than $20 million. In order to help keep costs low, the filmmakers took advantage of low-cost prosumer HDV cameras such as the Canon XH-A1, as well as a consumer model, the Canon HF10.[3]

Crank: High Voltage received an R rating by the MPAA based on an interview with Amy Smart. She was photographed brandishing taped nipples and disclosed that her character Eve has become a pole dancer.[4]

Soundtrack
Main article: Crank: High Voltage (soundtrack)

Linkin Park's song, "Given Up", was featured in the trailer for the movie, but not in the movie itself (lead singer Chester Bennington has a cameo in both films). Furthermore, one of Linkin Park's earlier songs was also entitled "High Voltage". Coincidentally the title of Crank 2. The majority of the soundtrack was done by Mike Patton.[5] The soundtrack received an "Incredible" 9.5/10 from IGN.

Original songs not scored by Mike Patton that appear in the film are as follows:

* "Keep On Loving You" by REO Speedwagon
* "The Stroke" by Billy Squier
* "Heard It In A Love Song" by Marshall Tucker Band