The last time our antihero Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) was seen, he was falling out of a helicopter at a rapid rate, having dispatched his nemesis, Ricky Verona. A hit and a bounce off of a car (hospitalizing its elderly driver, as newsreporter Fish Halman (John de Lancie) relates) and Chelios lands in the middle of a busy intersection in downtown Los Angeles...only to get scooped up quickly, like roadkill, by a crew decked out in black and whisked away in a hearse-like van. Chelios is on the operating table where Chinese doctors are performing some back-alley open-heart surgery. Facially-pierced Triad, Johnny Vang (Art Hsu) enters and as a sign of respect flicks some ashes of his cigarette into Chelios's open torso. The doctors remove Chelios's heart and replace it with an artificial one. As he recovers on the operating table, in preparation for the Triads to harvest more of his organs, next one being his baby-maker, Chelios awakens and takes out a few foes, and it's time to hit the streets to find his pumper in Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor's Crank 2: High Voltage (2009). 
Immediately, the pacing of Crank 2 stands out: in the original, every time that Chelios' heart slowed down, the events of the film sped up, adrenaline-style, as Chelios had to engage in more furious and daring action to keep his "strawberry tart" going. As he steps out into the bright sunlight, to a wicked score by Mike Patton, Chelios feels all right. In fact he feels pretty good. He has a battery pack around his waist that's going to keep his heart beating regularly. Only after his heart slows down, after he gives a shotgun anal probe to a henchman, does Chelios notice that the little green lights on his battery pack are diminishing. He gets a little juice from the car that he hotwires, and during his escape, Chelios calls a surprised Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam), who's interrupted from his butt slapping of his assistant, Dark Chocolate (Julanne Chidi Hill), to get another cell-phone diagnosis: once that battery-pack dies, Chelios's artificial heart will begin to run on a temporary internal one. Chelios will have less-than-an-hour's juice to go on. Find your heart, Chev, says Doc Miles, and I'll put it in for you. The pacing of the film mimics Chev's condition again: this time Crank 2 moves at a relatively leisurely pace, punctuated by some intense action when Chelios needs to get a dose of electricity. After Chelios crashes through his getaway car windshield his battery pack is kaput. Where the hell is Johnny Vang?
While Crank had some colorful, comic-book characters, the pacing of Crank 2 allows for more of a display and insight into some of these characters, including the addition of a few new ones. At the local "social club," Chelios rescues Chinese prostitute, Ria (Ling Bai), who is immediately smitten with her savior. Her outlandish broken English is often subtitled, and Ria is a kinetic addition of kink and nonsensical energy who helps Chelios out to find Johnny Vang. Poor Kaylo is no more, but his twin brother, Venus (Efren Ramirez), pops up. He's on a quest to avenge the death of his brother, but Chelios's tells him that he already taken care of that. Feeling a little pity for Venus (and getting himself some extra help), Statham's Chelios tells him that if he finds the guys that he's currently looking for, then Venus will get his revenge (albeit indirectly). Venus's mock heroics are hilarious and his character is a flamboyant and comedic addition to the action. How about Randy (Corey Haim)? Randy is the two-toned mullet-sporting boyfriend of Lemon. Who the eff is Lemon? Lemon is Eve (Amy Smart), who is now working the pole at a gentleman's club, since Chelios was supposedly dead. Haim's Randy is little more than a cameo character. However, in his few scenes, the opportunity to see Haim act like a buffoon, again, with some truly hilarious dialogue is priceless. I grew up watching Haim, and it's good to see him ham it up again. Smart's Eve is more than eye candy here, and she has some terrific scenes again with Statham. She has a fantastic scene later with Randy and dishes out some of her own wicked action and one-liners throughout. Hsu's Johnny Vang is a psycho straight out of the Kakihara school of thugs and he's an excellent foil and nemesis to Statham's Chelios. A very special actor, who recently passed away, is amazing in a small but pivotal role. Finally, Clifton Collins Jr. plays "El Huron," a new crime boss who steals all of his scenes. Statham, Yoakam, and the rest of the players from the previous Crank are just as excellent here. 
While Crank had some colorful, comic-book characters, the pacing of Crank 2 allows for more of a display and insight into some of these characters, including the addition of a few new ones. At the local "social club," Chelios rescues Chinese prostitute, Ria (Ling Bai), who is immediately smitten with her savior. Her outlandish broken English is often subtitled, and Ria is a kinetic addition of kink and nonsensical energy who helps Chelios out to find Johnny Vang. Poor Kaylo is no more, but his twin brother, Venus (Efren Ramirez), pops up. He's on a quest to avenge the death of his brother, but Chelios's tells him that he already taken care of that. Feeling a little pity for Venus (and getting himself some extra help), Statham's Chelios tells him that if he finds the guys that he's currently looking for, then Venus will get his revenge (albeit indirectly). Venus's mock heroics are hilarious and his character is a flamboyant and comedic addition to the action. How about Randy (Corey Haim)? Randy is the two-toned mullet-sporting boyfriend of Lemon. Who the eff is Lemon? Lemon is Eve (Amy Smart), who is now working the pole at a gentleman's club, since Chelios was supposedly dead. Haim's Randy is little more than a cameo character. However, in his few scenes, the opportunity to see Haim act like a buffoon, again, with some truly hilarious dialogue is priceless. I grew up watching Haim, and it's good to see him ham it up again. Smart's Eve is more than eye candy here, and she has some terrific scenes again with Statham. She has a fantastic scene later with Randy and dishes out some of her own wicked action and one-liners throughout. Hsu's Johnny Vang is a psycho straight out of the Kakihara school of thugs and he's an excellent foil and nemesis to Statham's Chelios. A very special actor, who recently passed away, is amazing in a small but pivotal role. Finally, Clifton Collins Jr. plays "El Huron," a new crime boss who steals all of his scenes. Statham, Yoakam, and the rest of the players from the previous Crank are just as excellent here. Despite a low budget, the duo of Neveldine and Taylor once again, stylistically are impressive. There are a bunch of creative scenes of Statham getting some juice, like jumping his nipple and tongue from a car battery to sticking his finger in a cigarette lighter in the back seat of a mobster's limo. Neveldine and Taylor push the ridiculousness of the story to excellent effect, especially when Chelios and Vang meet in an unexpected rendering of the two's confrontation or a fun sequence involving some sassy protesting strikers from a San Fernando Valley industry. Some excellent violent, bloody, and exciting shootouts occur (with Statham getting the opportunity to use another body shield in one of Crank 2's most impressive visual sequences). When Statham and Smart are together on screen, the action is always endearing and usually audacious. Crank 2 has multiple visual styles but unlike Crank, Neveldine and Taylor have refined their overall look, as the film feels more organic and seamless. The action and other ridiculously fun set pieces really stand out in this visual style. Not to mention Mike Patton's score (who I'm a huge fan of) which is absolutely brilliant.
Crank 2 is a worthy sequel to the original, and I hope that this duo keeps making sequels. Chelios's heart might not make it for any subsequent ones, but my heart is certainly with this talented writing-and-directing duo, skipping a beat in anticipation for their next film.
The characters who populate Videodrome seemingly would be too outside the norm to be accepted as real (or accessible) by the viewer, but Cronenberg, as he is often able to do with his films, is able to bring the viewer in to his created culture. As outlandish as the film's subject matter is, Videodrome's dialogue never sounds trite or ridiculous. Woods's Renn is an obsessive character who hides behind his commercial mask in order to plumb his dark desires. Harry's Nikki is a perfect match, and when she burns her breast with a lit cigarette, this act should be a cautionary symbol for Renn. The two actors have a strong chemistry, and their scenes together are terrific. Videodrome is a slow and methodical story that escalates perfectly: the viewer needs time to be in Renn's shoes and see the world through his eyes. As his reality begins changing, the viewer not only accepts this new reality but like Renn, wants to see more. Every subsequent scene is revelatory and engrossing: what was shown previously is grotesquely turned on its head and as the film unfolds, Cronenberg increasingly becomes less conservative and shows more in its visceral and sexual reality. 
What is so curious, though, about Videodrome is how wrong Cronenberg captured the culture in 1983 and its future: torture and murder would never become popular in any media; television would shrink in size both in outlets and in its audience; and viewers and seekers of a little kink and darker material would have less access to those sounds and images, because "overstimulation" has never really been our problem. Videodrome is a personal favorite by a truly unique and fantastic film maker. See it (and let it see you).
Juxtaposition manipulation and expectation: Harker's journey: welcoming (?) arms of local Gypsies, superstitious innkeepers and logical impracticability of traveling to Castle Dracula during the evening: Gypsies' stories of literal impossibility of traveling to Castle Dracula; and coachman's denial during confrontation: there is no road, there is no coach, and there are no horses. On foot, Harker walks dangerous and fearsome path protected by a guardrail, which must have been erected by a crew for some purpose (and not hidden from the camera), since the road is either well-traveled or construction crew was risky or needed a project; as he crosses over the mountains, the Gypsies' chasm is a beautiful camera capturing of cloud-covering in a natural sequence; and as night falls, a coach appears to comfort tired Harker and deliver him comfortably to Castle Dracula. 
Butler's Kable is actually Tillman, a death row inmate who has volunteered to play the Slayers game in order to win his freedom. Skipping over this serious ethics issue, the federal government is funding the game with support of the population by a majority vote, so Hall's Castle sees no problems with the game: it's what the folks want. How does it work? Castle created a cell-transference system in the brain via chip, which allows a remote user to control the actions of an actual live-person in real-time game play. Real human players, real guns, and real kills. The prototype for Slayers, which is also equally popular, is a Sims-like game entitled Society, where remote users can control and play as others in an interactive environment. However, Society is not a sweet world like Sims: it's more an online orgy, where folks can dress up their humans as play toys, hit the streets, and pick up strangers for a little ooh-la-la. Kable's a play or two away from winning his freedom; but Castle's about to stop that streak. There's an underground resistance, the Humanz, to Castle's software empire, who know Castle's secret.
Gamer is a media-driven world and is evocative of previous influential science-fiction films such as Paul Michael Glaser's The Running Man (1987), Paul Verhoeven's Robocop (1987) and Total Recall (1990). Gamer shares The Running Man's theme of bloody and real violence as popular entertainment which reaps massive amounts of cash for its corporate heads. Neveldine and Taylor take Verhoeven's approach to their media sequences: they're biting and satirical takes on our own current culture. Gamer doesn't come off as derivative though: as the Crank films show, this duo has their own acerbic and twisted wit, often playful and perverse. For example, the Society sequences are a highlight. The imagery is culled from glossy music videos, magazines, and adult films. The participants look like Michael Ninn models, and the action is shot from the user's (or viewer's) p.o.v. The user's twisted and disgusted little minds are played out, and Neveldine and Taylor don't hide it. The flesh, flashiness, and the sex are rolled out against a backdrop of quick cuts and tight shots: it ain't supposed to be sexy but shown as it is: commercial and cold. The internet community takes quite a few hits, too, in some truly comical sequences. Rich kid Simon gets multiple video instant messages as a current gaming celebrity with a standout one being British twins. "Hey Simon, want to see our tits?" Yep. It's nice to see you too.
Kau sits with a makeshift crew, including Matt (
Cut to the second story, and Kau's faux Rolex is broken on the street. Little weasel Bo is taking a beating by Kau and there's a heist to be had. Over dinner, with Matt again in company, Bo relates the gig, and Kau gets stuck again with the bill. Off to the massage parlor, and the boys run up quite the bill, again. The manager comes over and Kau gets stuck with the bill: calm and collected, with integrity and honor, Kau pays what he can and gives up his watch as payment. Kau calmly walks out of the parlor alone, while one of the local parlor girls follows him home. She's off to Taiwan tomorrow and wants a man to see her off at the airport. She's leaving Hong Kong, because she has no one there who cares about her. Kau goes with her and sees her off. Matt shows up at the airport and begs for his help. Matt's got a hit to perform in Taiwan and wants Kau to help him. 
Both stories are meditations on fate, karma, destiny, and the like. The only thing that separates the two stories is Kau's attitudes and outlook on life. Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 shows that one cannot control his/her feelings but only his/her actions. The consequences of those actions are also not within control. Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 ain't a poetic mediation either: often violent and bloody, nonsensical and silly, harsh and unforgiving, and seriously kinetic. Wai's camera flies all over the place and shows some especially bold compositions. He completely turns the camera one hundred and eighty degrees during the initial massage parlor brawl. Few filmmakers would go there: it's nearly unwatchable, because the action is not discernible. Just chaos. A interesting stylistic approach which is also a big risk that pays off big. Wai's imagery within the frames is really a balance of nastiness and silliness. A jarring blend. Ka-Fai Wai is Johnnie To's creative partner at Milkway Productions (who produced here). Wai often shares a directorial credit on To's films, and you can see where his creative talent resides with Too Many Ways to Be No. 1. Wai, also co-writer here, is very adept at creating multi-faceted characters in films with very rich themes. Wai never goes for the safe move in his films: his characters will take action with serious consequences. Wai also directed one of my favorites from HK and one of Yun-fat Chow's last HK films before he went to Hollywood, Peace Hotel (1995), a fun riff on Django (1966) that is also unexpected and stylish. Written By (2009) is one of my most-anticipated films from Hong Kong this year, and if anything, I can rely on Wai delivering something offbeat and unexpected. It also stars Milkyway's main man and currently one of the best actors working period, Ching Wan Lau.
Lau's fantastic. His heartfelt appearance in Derek Yee's C'est la vie, mon chéri (1994) seriously raised some eyebrows and gained the actor quite a following. Lau, like Jack Nicholson, has an amazingly expressionistic face and convey a wide range of emotions, seemingly effortlessly just with glances and looks. He's quite magnetic, and I'll see anything that he's in. Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 is Kau's story, and Lau owns this role. Lau's performance is up to the energy level of Wai's creative input: Lau has to play the same character who evolves with two different character arcs. Taxing for most actors, Lau executes brilliantly. It's really hard not to fall in love with Lau's Kau in Too Many Ways to Be No. 1, and it's one of my favorite performances by him.
Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 was made at a time when eyes were off Hong Kong cinema. Most of its stars and big-time directors moved away, and the majority of the films were lacking in excitement. However, the flame never died, and Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 shines brightly.
Most of the offbeat humor and detail of specific sequences in Crank should really be experienced by its viewer and not related here. I will say however, that Statham gives a tour-de-force performance in Neveldine and Taylor's true coup d'etat of cinema. Statham gives Chelios a sharp and sardonic edge combined with a ferocious intensity and feeling. His soft bits come with his girlfriend, Eve (
Neveldine and Taylor delivered a sequel to Crank in 2009 and their forthcoming Gamer (2009) is one of my most-anticipated cinema trips this year. Crank is punk rock cinema played at high volume. I absolutely love this film. See it.