We here at The Playlist like to remind you that our tastes run towards the brie-&-wine set more often than not. Still, there is something to be said about the pleasures of a debauched cinematic genre experience. And while there’s no clear consensus on this at The Playlist, sometimes there’s an action project that jumps out at us as something that’s going to do new and startlingly different things with the genre.
Case in point: the audience-friendly “Crank 2: High Voltage” trailer was shown in front of “My Bloody Valentine 3D” this weekend. While there’s a crazier nsfw redband clip floating around online that we know nothing about, this one more properly conveys the insanity of a film where the lead falls from a helicopter onto the concrete and, in this sequel, gets back up again to kick ass. We like it when films incorporate a lot of different musical tastes and ideas, and unlike the first film’s idiosyncratic, sometimes ill-advised cuts, this trailer goes for the cheap seats with dated tracks from The Crystal Method and Linkin Park. Fortunately, the score’s being done by Mike Patton, a pretty cool, unusual choice. Also seen in this trailer playing alongside crap film superman Jason Statham are country singer-turned-superquirky indie actor Dwight Yoakam and Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, perhaps reprising his cameo from the first film.
A nice little easter egg no one has picked up on yet: the trailer closes with a shot of character actor Michael Weston as an EMT worker. “Crank” directors Mark Taylor and Brian Neveldine also wrote the little-seen freakshow medical thriller “Pathology” from last year, which featured Weston as an insane med student serial murderer who meets a wholly unpredictable end. It’s hard to explain without delving into spoilers, but needless to say, the three of us who have seen “Pathology,” a surprisingly sick horror flick, are notably tickled by this ludicrous fan service.