Crank 2: High Voltage (18)
ACTION star Jason Statham returns as hit man Chev Chelios in a storyline that continues directly after the explosive exploits of the original.
Bruiser Chev wakes to discover that an enigmatic Chinese mobster has ripped out his heart and replaced the vital organ with a battery-operated ticker that will stop unless he gives himself regular jolts of electricity.
He is aided on his adventure by kindly Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakum) and his girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart), who now knows exactly what he does for a living, Chev intends to retrieve his heart whilst outwitting Mexican crime lord El Huron (Clifton Collins Jr) and Triad elder Poon Dong (David Carradine).
In The Loop (15)
A WELL timed spin doctor scandal sees tenacious communications chief Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) hurriedly called into action to minimise the damage created by the bumbling British Secretary of State for International Development.
Award-winning satirist Armando Iannucci pokes fun at the political establishment for this sardonic and foul-mouthed film, which crams more belly laughs into its first 20 minutes than most comedies manage in two hours.
To say the script is polished to perfection and peppered with dazzling one-liners would be an understatement.
The only danger is that you’ll be guffawing so hard at some of the gags, the next punchline will be lost amidst the delirium.
In The Loop is hysterical, anchored by a virtuoso turn from Peter Capaldi as the master of spin who will stop at nothing to achieve his party’s goals.
The plot unfolds at a lick with hardly any of the 105 minutes wasted as a potty-mouthed Scottish spin-doctor rebuilds reputations from the ashes with his finger on the political pulse.
