This should be a 2-star movie at best, but it somehow manages to be deranged and ludicrous enough to overcome the D-movie characters. The editing is a little irritating, but of course in keeping with the theme, since we the audience wake up as Jason Statham in reel one, and he has to keep his adrenalin pumping or something or he'll die or something and he has a girlfriend or something. It's about that coherent.

The point is, there is an awful lot of focus on his penis, what with him having an unintentional erection and being fellated in a car and throwing Amy Smart about in front of some Chinese schoolgirls(?), and it just does get to be a bit strange. This coupled with the added motif of him cutting off or disfiguring his enemies' right hands...their trigger hands, yes, but also their wanking hands. Curious. Also, there is the problem of the final sequence, where they are apparently in a helicopter that can ascend from the roof of a building to a height of 30,000 feet in 27 seconds.

All of that aside, there is a good, self-aware, action punch-up vibe to the film that kind of does work. It's interesting to see this movie for the first time after Drive. They begin with essentially the same premise, and one takes it off into a frenetic murderfest while the other takes it off into a harrowing but measured depiction of real solitude.

Crank is not just a frenetic murderfest, it's a frenetic murderfest that features "Achy Breaky Heart" played to bring Statham back from the brink, that features Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'" played while Statham stands with his bottom out on a moving motorcycle, and which also has Dwight Yoakam. Worth seeing. I think I'll try the sequel.