{"id":12397,"date":"2025-07-07T23:54:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T03:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12397"},"modified":"2025-07-07T23:54:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T03:54:35","slug":"crank-2-high-voltage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/07\/07\/crank-2-high-voltage\/","title":{"rendered":"Crank 2: High Voltage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Crank 2: High Voltage <\/strong>(2009)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lionsgate\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (frenetic strong bloody violence throughout, crude and graphic sexual content, nudity, pervasive language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Neveldine\/Taylor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Neveldine\/Taylor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Mike Patton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Brandon Trost\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 17, 2009 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Bai Ling, Clifton Collins Jr., Efren Ramirez, Dwight Yoakam, Art Hsu, Joseph Julian Soria, David Carradine, Reno Wilson, Julanne Chidi Hill, Corey Haim, Yeva Genevieve Lavlinski, Geri Halliwell, Billy Unger, Glenn Howerton, Lauren Holly, Lloyd Kaufman, Ron Jeremy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $13.6M (US)\/$34.5M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0The bloody insanity continues in Crank 2: High Voltage<\/strong>, the even more OTT sequel to the zany 2006 actioner starring that bad ass Brit Jason Statham (The Transporter) as Chev Chelios, the hitman keeping himself alive while avenging his own murder. He may have succeeded in his mission, but his ordeal is far from over. This time, somebody has stolen his heart and I don\u2019t mean some hot chick with a smoking bod. Somebody has literally stolen his heart and naturally, he wants it back. Can\u2019t say I blame him; I\u2019d be perturbed too if somebody nicked the most vital organ in my body.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Crank 2: High Voltage<\/strong> picks right up where the last one left off, with Chev lying in the middle of a busy intersection after falling thousands of feet from a helicopter. Seconds later, a black van pulls up, the Chinese occupants jump out, scoop him up with a snow shovel and drive off. Surprisingly, he\u2019s not dead yet which is good or bad news depending on which side of the scalpel you\u2019re on. He\u2019s taken to a makeshift hospital where his heart is removed and replaced with a plastic artificial one powered by a yellow battery pack. He wakes up and escapes after learning the location of Johnny Vang (Hsu, The Girl from the Naked Eye), a young gangster carrying a red cooler that might (or might not) contain Chev\u2019s missing heart. Once again, there\u2019s a time constraint. Once that yellow box stops working, Chev has maybe an hour until his fake heart gives out and he dies. He has to constantly keep it charged, a feat he accomplishes with a variety of instruments including police tasers, jumper cables (yes, he says \u201cJuice me\u201d again) and high-voltage live wires.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As if Chev didn\u2019t have enough problems already, a tattooed punk named Chico (Soria, The Purge: Election Year) is looking for him under the orders of a crime boss known only as \u201cThe Ferret\u201d (Collins, The Replacement Killers). While on the trail of his purloined pumper, Chev picks up an unwanted companion in the form of Ria (Ling, The Crow), an Asian hooker who can help him find Vang. What she wants in return is something Chev is unwilling to give. Speaking of which, he finds his girlfriend Eve (Smart, Road Trip) working as a stripper at the club Ria sends him to. Together, they chase Vang all over L.A. while Chico tries to take down Chev.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Crank 2: High Voltage<\/strong> is one wild ass ride! Efren Ramirez (Napoleon Dynamite) returns, this time as Venus, vengeful brother of Kaylo from the first movie. He wants revenge and won\u2019t let anything stop him, not even the FBT (Full Body Tourette\u2019s) that sends him into sudden uncontrollable muscular fits at the worst times. Dwight Yoakam also returns as helpful Doc Miles who helps him locate his \u201cstrawberry tart\u201d while dispensing useful medical advice. Well, useful in his particular situation. Former teen heartthrob Corey Haim, in one of his final roles, plays strip club owner Randy who\u2019s also looking to cash in on the reward being offered by The Ferret for delivering Chev. Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell plays Chev\u2019s mother in a funny flashback sequence. However, the supporting performance that steals the show comes from David Carradine (his last movie to be released prior to his death that June) as 100-year-old Triad leader Poon Dong. It\u2019s okay, it\u2019s so silly a role it\u2019s not even a little bit offensive.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The action scenes in Crank 2: High Voltage<\/strong> are more hyper than those in the first movie. The sequel basically takes everything to the next level. It succeeds in outdoing its predecessor. The climactic shootout is especially cool. Quite a number of gun-toting folks (e.g. gay bikers, hookers) show up just in the nick of time to save Chev. Props to returning writer-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor for working in a tribute to the timeless 1962 horror-sci-fi classic The Brain That Wouldn\u2019t Die. There\u2019s also another sex-in-public scene, this time at a horse track in front of a cheering crowd while \u201cHeard It in a Love Song\u201d (Marshall Tucker Band) plays on the soundtrack. The sight of Statham waving a cowboy hat while he \u201crides\u201d Eve is hysterical. \u201cF*** you, Chelios!\u201d is repeated so often, it becomes a joke.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s more violence and gore in Crank 2: High Voltage<\/strong>, something that pleases my inner gorehound. There are many shootings, stabbings and beatings. Somebody gets hit by a car. Somebody is assaulted with a bicycle. A man is shown with his intestines hanging out. Another man has the barrel of a shotgun rammed right up his ass. There\u2019s plenty of blood splatter. There\u2019s also a particularly gruesome shocking death near the end that leaves the victim in flames. WOW, is this one ever violent! It\u2019s all in fun though.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Crank 2: High Voltage<\/strong> is a modern-day grindhouse flick with better production values. It\u2019s funny, action-filled and totally insane! Like the first movie, the plot is completely idiotic. In fact, this one is more idiotic. But boy, is it ever fun! It\u2019s another one to watch with your brain in OFF mode. Watch both as a double feature; it makes for a great Saturday night at home.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crank 2: High Voltage (2009)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lionsgate\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (frenetic strong bloody violence throughout, crude and graphic sexual content, nudity, pervasive language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Neveldine\/Taylor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Neveldine\/Taylor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Mike Patton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Brandon Trost\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 17, 2009 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Bai Ling, Clifton Collins Jr., Efren Ramirez, Dwight Yoakam, Art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kick-ass-actioners","category-scary-gory-wild-i-love-it"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Crank-2-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12397"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12485,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12397\/revisions\/12485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}