Crank (2006)

I'd like to think that this amped-up bit of Cro-Magnon crud is working on the same level as the average Paul Verhoeven product -- satire via overheated hyperbole. Even if it is, though (and I doubt it is), it's missing the slyly smart humor that characterizes the work of Verhoeven, instead going for an obnoxious lad-mag sense of joviality. (The sneaky intelligence is one of the reasons Verhoeven and no one else can make films like he does.) Then there's the psychotically flashy overdirection. It's meant to be a subjective experience, wherein Jason Statham's constant adrenalization leaks into the film itself; the two Clever Jeffs who've unleashed this bastard child, though, do their jobs too well in that respect. The effect is about the same one I get after drinking too much coffee: I'm jittery, my head hurts, I'm vaguely nauseous and I just want to go home and lie down for a bit. Also: definitely homophobic, likely racist, probably sexist, but that's all part of the fun... right?

Grade: D