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At least there shouldn't be a Crank 3.

Kim Hollis: Crank: High Voltage, the latest proof that Jason Statham can't say no to any role, opened to $7.0 million, with a per venue average of $2,928. Why wasn't Crank 2 as well-received as Crank?

Josh Spiegel: I think it's possible that maybe - just maybe - Jason Statham's star power is dimming quickly. I mean, for a few years, I've liked him in spite of just about every movie he does, mostly because it seems as though he doesn't take his work too seriously, but after a while, people get a bit bored of the same shtick. Statham's not a bad screen presence; aside from the potential of him not being popular for much longer, Crank was never a movie that did fantastically well at the box office. That, and the fact that his character does die at the end of the first one, may have not dragged many audience members into seats.

Brandon Scott: I have never seen the first, and heard it was bad, but for some reason the raunchiness and spastic style in the trailers kind of enthused me to this movie. I still haven't seen it, but I am a little saddened by the number. In part, because as Josh suggested, I think Statham may be burning the candle at both ends now, and I like the guy, especially when in a Guy Ritchie film. But I think his one-track action persona may be running its course. I mean, The Bank Job was one of the great underrated films of last year, and he actually acted in it, and it didn't require him to smash up cars and kick general ass. He can tone it down if he so chooses, I am just not sure now if he will have a choice in the matter. He might HAVE to tone it down for the studios' sake (as well as audiences).





Eric Hughes: Brandon's right about the trailer. I found its spastic images mashed up with Linkin Park to be a quite brilliant pairing. I usually HATE action movies. So for me to have a slight interest in this franchise - I even skipped the first one - is intriguing to me. (Not that I'm any sort of box office barometer). I'm thinking Lionsgate should've released it in the summer.

Reagen Sulewski: It's weird what action fans will and won't buy in their films. All the impossible stunts in Fast & Furious or Transporter don't cause people to blink, but an obvious, over-the-top cartoon stuff like this gets savaged. See also: Shoot 'Em Up.

David Mumpower: While we're recommending films today in MMQB, Brandon is right that The Bank Job is a great film and exactly the sort of title Jason Statham should be seeking. He's a fine actor who is being diminished by his propensity for paycheck jobs like this one. He's 2009's answer to what Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal were to the 1990s, which is tragic since he's a legitimate talent. I guess that from Statham's perspective, he's a champion diver (no, really) who stumbled into acting by accident. He'll take pretty much any role that pays him his quote. If I were Lord of All Cinema, I would handcuff Guy Ritchie and Statham together and never let them part, but movie fans of both men are left wanting them to realize that until they get back together, both men's futures are more along the lines of Crank: High Voltage and Swept Away than Snatch.

Sean Collier: Look, I actually LIKED the first movie, but seriously - it ends with him PLUMMETING FROM A HELICOPTER. And then his HEART EXPLODES. There are tenuous sequels, and then there are "ain't no way, ain't no how" sequels.

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