Crank: High Voltage vs. Public Enemies

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How can I choose either one? They're both so bad that I wish I hadn't wasted valuable hours of my life watching them. Public Enemies is just utterly dreary; it's way too long, it doesn't feature one likeable character, the camera work is painfully bad, and overall, it's just one of the most redundant movies I have ever seen. Crank: High Voltage, on the other hand, is easily one of the worst sequels of all time. It's so much over the top that it isn't even funny anymore, and the unnecessary gore, violence and nudity make it even worse. Since I somehow have to make a decision, I'm still going with Crank 2 because I didn't literally fall asleep like I did when watching Public Enemies.

I just watched High Voltage for the first time tonight, and I have to say, I actually admire the way in which it fully embraced its absurd, over-the-top, ADD video game style. But yes, it's as though Neveldine/Taylor were so set on topping the absurdity of Crank that they went too far overboard, and the movie is not half as enjoyable as its predecessor. Meanwhile, while I was highly disappointed in Public Enemies, mainly as it manifested as simply a lesser re-tread of Heat, it is still a Michael Mann film, and it still has merits. The photography, when it works, is good; some scenes look gorgeous, but unfortunately, it only works about half the time, and the rest looks bad. It still stars Johnny Depp and Christian Bale; unfortunately, they just didn't have enough to work with. Marion Cotillard, meanwhile, I thought was fantastic. There's some great attention to detail in the 1930s production design. Anyway, both of these films are kind of disappointments, compared to the first Crank, and the rest of Michael Mann's films. But while PE probably had farther to fall, I think it's still a superior film. Faint praise, though.

Crank: High Voltage was fun.