No one could complain that Jason Statham doesn't engage wholeheartedly with his character Chev Chelios in this tricksy LA thriller. Chev is a gangster who has been injected with a Chinese potion that requires him to keep his heart pounding fast throughout the day - or die within an hour.
The gangster rampages through town, destroying half of it on the way, in order to avoid slipping into eternity-snorting cocaine off a toilet floor to help him keep going.
The potion has also given him a permanent erection. This fascinates a busload of Japanese tourists who happen to be passing as he has sex in public with his girlfriend (Amy Smart).
The film, made by two first-time writer-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, is energetic, fast and meant to be funny as well as thrilling. Remarkably, Statham is its equal: he's a frenetic hero, the like of which one has seldom seen.
Crank
Cert: 18
