The official site of Crank 2

Discuss Crank 2 on the boards

I loved the original Crank. It was a filthy cartoon come to life and it’s a good thing that it was because if it weren’t a far-fetched, physics defying adventure, then Chev Chellios’ death at the end of the film would have hindered this sequel pretty badly.

I’m not really giving anything away by saying he dies because – apparently he doesn’t. And the larger joy of that first film is Chev’s (Jason Statham) quest for revenge and willingness to stay alive. It’s really a fantastic, unique film from rookie directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor who are both back here for Crank 2: High Voltage as well as the upcoming Gerard Butler thriller Game (which looks totally bad ass.)

The second film features Chev as the victim of organ harvesters that give him this robotic heart so he can stay alive long enough for them to remove all his other good parts. It’s somehow an even more ridiculous premise than the Chinese poison/adrenaline plot behind the first film, but as it approaches its release I can’t help but get more and more excited about Crank 2. It promises more of Statham (whose charisma has carried films with even worse ideas behind them) high kicking his way into our hearts, more crazy stunts to stay alive, more outdoor sex scenes and so on… And really, that’s all any of us could ask for.

Today’s comic came about after I followed a link to the film’s official web site and was met with the oddest of site deterrents I’d ever seen. Usually with an R-rated film the only thing standing in your way is an annoying message prompting you to enter your birthday so that they know you’re old enough to view the naughty stuff. Instead, Crank 2 simply asks you to provide a curse word. It specifically says, “Type in a cuss word… Slap space bar to get this bitch started.

Without thinking I typed in the F-word and was on my way inside. Eventually I would come back to test this method of entry to see if it actually follow its own rules or if anything would let you in. My first non-cuss word was “Boobs� and the site sparkled and denied me entry. I tried “Butt� and got the same result. I spent the next 10 minutes trying different words ranging from the fringe of cursing (“Darn�) to just plain annoying (“Dane Cook�) and was denied at every turn. There were the occasional odd entry words like “Penis� and “Vagina� but the hands down weirdest had to be “Cheese and Crackers�. I’m not sure what compelled me to type it into the box, but it got me into the site.

Mostly what works is what you’d expect. Any word you’d be uncomfortable saying in front of your Grandmother will grant you access. Have some fun and see what’s the weirdest thing you can think of that will work for you. If you come up with anything good, stop by the boards and let me know what you find.

Inside is a series of videos from the film, wallpaper images and facebook links. The interesting thing is that the site is timed. Basically you need to watch videos and uncover hidden things on the site or Chev will die. As a bonus if you uncover everything you get to see a secret special video from the film. There are two downsides to this interesting interactive idea. 1) The site is incomplete so you can’t unlock everything to see the ultimate hidden video. 2) When he dies it’s kind of lame. It’s a neat idea though and I’ll definitely check it out again after the film is released.

Big thanks again to the Crooked Gremlin crew for their kick ass guest comic yesterday. They did a great job and really helped me out. My eternal thanks.

Part of what I did do yesterday was the latest edition of Another Videogame Webcomic. This week Phil and I covered the release of Resident Evil 5 which hit stores last Friday and apparently is pretty damn awesome. I myself have not had a chance to check it out yet but Phil played co-op online for almost 3 days straight and seems to love it. Be sure to check out his thoughts in the full review. A lot of you have been asking about a direct link on the main page to AVW. We’re in the middle of a site redesign that should fix that up but for now just make sure you swing by first thing every Friday morning to catch it on the main page. If you’re late to the game, we’re 20 strips deep now. Go have a look-see.

I had to push back my review of I Love You, Man because of the nature of the strips. It turned out to be a two-parter and part one is incomplete. I’ll most likely dish those out on Monday and focus tomorrow on the Nic Cage film The Knowing. Part of me knows this latest “numbers thriller� will be silly and terrible but I’m drawn to it. I want Nic Cage to have another big hit and I want him to be more than bad hair jokes. For what its worth though, I Love You, Man is good fun. Not the bravest or ballsiest comedy in recent years but it’s definitely filled with strong laughs and the adorable Rashida Jones.

That’s it for now but God willing – this time tomorrow you’ll be seeing one of my really crappy drawings of Nic Cage talking about numbers.