Something to watch tonight: Thursday 3 August

Crank (Neveldine & Taylor, 2006) is a digital rental from Apple

Three things promp­ted me to think of Crank today.

Firstly, the big, dumb Jason Statham movie I saw this morning.

Secondly, the trail­er for the new Liam Neeson thrill­er Retribution (which fea­tures a nor­mal guy driv­ing his chil­dren around in a car with a bomb in it which will go off if they try to exit the vehicle).

And thirdly, the Aussie hor­ror Talk to Me (reviewed tomor­row) which is dir­ec­ted by two broth­ers who reminded me of Neveldine & Taylor whose debut film was … Crank.

I’m a suck­er for these silly high concept pic­tures (like Speed) where one cool idea is spun out in ever more ridicu­lous and invent­ive ways.

In Crank the concept is very silly indeed. Statham plays a hit­man who has been poisoned by the mob and who can only stay alive if he keeps his adren­aline above a cer­tain level. That’s a cue for lots of won­der­ful action set-pieces and a sur­pris­ingly affect­ing romance between Statham and Amy Smart.

It also has the bonus of coun­try sing­er Dwight Yoakam in one of his all-too-rare act­ing gigs.

Crank is cur­rently only avail­able in New Zealand as a rent­al from Apple but the DVD is avail­able from Aro Street and there is a sequel, Crank: High Voltage (and rumours of a third film in development).