Its been 10 years since Neveldine/Taylors Crank was released.

We look back at what might be Jason Stathams best film… Obviously, there are plenty to choose from, but to date, the most common answer isCrank.

Simon Pegg loves it.

James McAvoy loves it.

Rupert Grint loves it.

To stay alive, hell need to jack himself up with as many stimulants as possible.

Thats pretty much all there is to the plot, but its all there really needs to be.

Chelios cant slow down, so neither does the movie.

It was one hell of an experience.

Pinning down exactly what madeCrankso special is tough.

Statham, at the time, was already a rising action star.

His directors, on the other hand?

No-one had heard of Mark Neveldine or Brian Taylor or Neveldine/Taylor, as theyre credited here beforeCrank.

But theyd definitely heard of them afterwards.Crankwas their calling card, and it felt like a mission status.

in a hyper-stylised, hyper-kinetic style that borders on obnoxious.

images from Google Maps.

Its a loud movie thats exaggerated in every possible way.

And, yeah, looking back ten years later, there are things that feel dated.

ThoughCrankdoesnt seem to endorse the views its characters sometimes express, its hard to deny that theyre pretty gross.

Hes not a terribly nuanced one, either, but then he doesnt need to be.

In contrast to the other action films of its day, even the Statham-fronted ones, it felt dangerous.

Made for $12 million, its scrappy rather than polished, but it uses that to its advantage.

It feels new, and exciting, and, yeah, maybe a little bit transgressive.

Borrowing from rather than slavishly recreating games meantCrankfelt fresh rather than nostalgic.

Sadly, looking at what the filmmakers did next is less cherry.

But Amy Smarts had more luck on TV than in movies.

And writer/directors Neveldine/Taylor have been kind of unreliable since, often due to circumstances beyond their control.

And then there wasJonah Hex, which again was written byCranks dynamic duo, but directed by someone else.

Still, it dented their reputation a bit to be associated with a flop as widely denounced asJonah Hex.

It hasnt even got an ending yet.

As for Chev Chelios himself, well, he might not have run out of lives just yet.

Jason Stathams apparentlykeen to revisit the character, while production company Lakeshore Entertainment are reportedly on board as well.

Thats no guarantee that another sequel will definitely happen, of course, but it does sound pretty promising.