In an age ruled by wussy PG-13 horror and sterilized action, the world cried out for a hero. And behold, for it has found one; actually, it has found two. Their names are Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor -- usually credited as just "Neveldine/Taylor" -- and they have come to rescue us from the gutless, joyless, cynical genre films that seem to top the box-office more and more often with each passing year.

So far, Neveldine/Taylor have but two credits to their name: the deranged Jason Statham actioner Crank, and the screenplay for last weekend's twisted, frightening "medical" thriller Pathology. (Here I must respectfully dissent from my co-blogger Jeffrey M. Anderson's thoughtful negative review of the latter.) They've developed a clear m.o. -- gruesome, over-the-top violence, unhinged sexuality, frenetic plotting, a conscious disregard for plausibility -- and a certain contingent of filmgoers are eating it up with a spoon. I don't blame them: movies that don't pull their punches are pretty rare, and it's easy to love these two simply for having the fortitude to go balls-to-the-wall.

Warning: Possible spoilers below.

We at Cinematical have gleefully kept you updated on the status of the promised sequel to Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine's crazy-ass live-action cartoon Crank. Thanks to what must be one of the most fascinating casting calls of all time, we now have more specifics about what's in store for Jason Statham's apparently invincible Chev Chelios. (If you recall, he ended the first film by plunging a mile from a helicopter and crashing onto the concrete landing on a car. [Thanks to commenter Liam for the correction.])

In addition to the details of how Chev survived the fall, which we already knew (he gets implanted with -- what else? -- an artificial heart which he has to jolt with electricity to keep pumping), The Bad and Ugly has snagged descriptions of a couple characters from the casting call for Crank 2: High Voltage. Among them are "Hu Dong," a 100 year-old Chinese gangster who implants Chev's old heart into himself and is then "lured into Doc Miles' clutches by the seductive Vanilla." I don't know what that means, but it sounds amazing. There's also "Pepper," a stripper who turns up in the back seat of a car that Chev steals and is somehow able to give Chev information about the whereabouts of one of his nemeses. Oh, and unless you're "OKAY WITH NUDITY" -- just like that, in all caps -- don't bother auditioning for "Pepper".

Ordinarily, reading tidbits like that about an upcoming studio release (Lionsgate is footing at least part of the bill) would send me scurrying under my desk to search for my jaw. But in the Taylor/Neveldine universe, which will also soon include the vicious-looking Pathology, it sounds like par for the course. I'm psyched.

ComingSoon got an early look at the first teaser poster and some of the artwork for the new techno-thriller, Game. Written and directed by Crank creators, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the film stars Gerard Butler as the consummate player of a virtual game with some pretty heavy real-life consequences. The story is "set in a dystopian future of implanted nano-devices, where the ultimate online simulation environment is humans remote-controlling other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online gaming. The lead character, played by Butler, is a worldwide sensation, and the top-ranked warrior in a game called "Slayers." With his every move tracked by millions, he battles to regain his identity and bring down the entire system". Joining Butler are Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) and Dexter's Michael C. Hall as the game's evil creator.

Butler has been picking up parts right and left after the success of 300; everything from romantic weepies to crime drama -- and I know which one I'd be more inclined to shell out my hard-earned dollars for, how about you? Butler is going to have one less commitment to worry about this year since it turns out he will not be taking on the role of Snake Plissken in the update of Escape from New York. Christopher brought us the 'good' news recently citing 'creative differences' as the catalyst for Butler leaving the project. So that film is now officially without a director or a star. So I don't think it is just me, but I wouldn't count on seeing Escape any time soon considering the rate people are dropping from the project. As for Game, the film is currently in production and expected to be released in 2009.

UPDATE: It seems the artwork has been taken down; not sure why. Sorry about that folks.

Talk about your super-caffeinated, candy-coated, adrenaline-fueled head trips! Crank was like Speed on speed, an updating / rip-off of D.O.A. brought into the high octane world of hitmen and drug kingpins. Jason Statham starred as Chev Chelios, an assassin poisoned by a criminal overlord. With just an hour to live and revenge on his mind, he quickly discovers that if he doesn't keep his heart rate pumping in overdrive, he'll die even quicker. Extreme, outlandish and often ridiculous, Crank careened around Los Angeles like a drunken Formula One racer.

Critical reaction was divided upon its release last fall. Cinematical's Martha Fischer anticipated its popular success: "it's likely to do huge business with that tantalizing late-teen/early twenties male demographic, who will eat up the naughty, noisy allure of the whole thing, without ever noticing that it's sloppy and unfocused." A few months ago, Jessica Barnes told us about a report that the writing and directing team of Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine were planning a sequel; Scott Weinberg reported a few weeks ago that Taylor and Neveldine had submitted a script that made everyone dance with joy; as further evidence that the sequel was moving forward, Patrick Walsh let us know that Statham expressed his enthusiasm for the script.

Now comes official word: Variety says that Statham is on board for Crank 2: High Voltage, in which his character "faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working." Production will begin after Taylor and Neveldine complete Game, a futuristic thriller starring Gerard Butler and Michael C. Hall that starts shooting next week. No release date is given for Crank 2: High Voltage, but I imagine a fall 2008 release wouldn't be out of the question.

Sorry, Jason Statham fans. He's not going to be your "Real American Hero." Statham had been rumored as the likely choice to play Action Man in the upcoming G.I. Joe flick, but Statham insists he has nothing to do with the film. "The old Internet can be quite misleading at times," he tell MTV Movies Blog. "I don't know where that came from." Statham is keeping busy without Joe though, bro. The Bank Job is due out in 2008, and he's currently on the set of Death Race with a surprisingly excellent cast that includes Ian McShane and Joan Allen. That film is being directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (the terrible Soldier and the almost-terrible Alien Vs. Predator). I always wondered why that guy didn't change his name. You'd think years of people being disappointed when he's not Paul Thomas Anderson would get to the guy.

In addition to those projects, the ass-kicking Statham is lining up some sequels that will bring him back to some of his more popular roles. For starters, there's Crank 2, which Statham promises will be "effing ridiculous." "If you thought the first one was crazy, this is ridiculous. It's mad," he says. "I couldn't resist working with those chaps again. It gives me a chance to go wild in the aisles." For more on the Crank sequel, check Scott's report here. And yet another Statham sequel is in the works -- Transporter 3. "I have a massive yearning to do Part 3 with Luc (Besson). I think it will happen (soon)," says Statham. I haven't seen the Transporter films, though I hear great things. I do happen to think Crank is one of the finest pure action films in years. I'm dying for a sequel, if only to see how they make up for the fact that it sure looked like Statham's character -- spoiler warning -- died in the original. Oh, and bring Dwight Yoakam back! Man, I love that guy.

CHUD is reporting that Michael C. Hall (star of Six Feet Under and Dexter) has signed to play the bad guy in the techno-thriller, Game, for Crank creators Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. The film is "set in a dystopian future of implanted nano-devices, where the ultimate online simulation environment is humans remote-controlling other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online gaming. The lead character, played by Butler, is a worldwide sensation, and the top-ranked warrior in a game called "Slayers." With his every move tracked by millions, he battles to regain his identity and bring down the entire system". Hall will play the game's creator and head honcho and is described as the "guy pulling the strings". Now it could just be me, but that sounds like one heck of a cheesy premise -- yet the addition of Butler and Hall could maybe help raise the quality of the material, if only slightly.

Neveldine and Taylor are also behind the upcoming thriller Pathology starring Milo Ventimiglia from NBC's Heroes, headed for theaters on November 30th. Plus, there is still the promise of a sequel to Crank -- although it seems there has been more talk than actual progress on that particular project. Butler had signed on for the film back in May, and he is currently working on Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla and the fantasy film, Nim's Island -- followed by a role in the Untouchables prequel, Capone Rising, so there is no shortage of work coming his way. Hall is still hard at work on Showtime's Dexter, but I would guess he has plenty of time since that's what a season hiatus is for. Game will be produced by Lakeshore and is tentatively scheduled to begin shooting this January.

It was last May when we first started hearing rumblings about the possibility of a Crank sequel, but as anyone who's seen the flick can tell you -- the ending doesn't exactly lend itself to follow-up options. Let's just say that our hero Chev Chelios (Jason Statham), riddled with horrible poison, reached a fate that few aside from Bugs Bunny could survive. But that's not stopping writer-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor from kick-starting that sequel.

According to Empire, this will be a "true" sequel; no dream sequences or long-lost twin brothers will be employed to ignore the first film's freaky finale. Here's what Mr. Neveldine told Empire: "We came up with an idea, we wrote the script, and after the studio read it they couldn't believe that we pulled it off. And of course, the best test was giving it to Jason and Jason turned down every other project so he could do this, start this in the spring of next year. He was so excited, he couldn't believe it!"

Needless to say, Crank 2 will deliver even more high-end movie mayhem: "You have to go twice as hard. So that's what we're going to do. If we're going to live up to the first one with the sequel -- we're taking it WAY past the point of the first one." Production on the second Crank looks to be scheduled for next April. No word yet on if Amy Smart or Dwight Yoakam will be returning, but really ... why wouldn't they?

Even though it looks like feelings were pretty mixed when it came to the action flick Crank, it seems that there were enough fans out there interested in a sequel about our adrenaline-challenged friend. Movie Blog spoke with Crank's writer/directors Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine about the possibility of a sequel while they were doing an interview for Movie Blog's Uncut about their upcoming thriller Pathology. When the topic strayed to Crank, Taylor had this to say: "There will be a sequel to Crank yes. Prepare to Crank again. And you know the 'is it a sequel or prequel' question... IT'S A SEQUEL. We're not selling out and going prequel. We are picking up where the last movie left off." This makes you wonder exactly how they are going to pull that one off, considering how the first film ended.

Since this was just a small aside in a larger interview, there are not many details about the proposed movie, namely if Jason Statham would be returning. Statham is signed on for not one, but two heist movies in the next year, including the sequel to The Italian Job -- The Brazilian Job, and a true-life heist movie titled The Bank Job about one of Britain's great unsolved crimes. Since Taylor and Neveldine are going to be busy for the foreseeable future with Pathology, it might be a while before they can get around to figuring out how to bring their hero back from the dead.

Just like last Tuesday, it's some pretty slim pickins, new disc-wise, but there's a small handful of interesting flicks that just might deserve a spot somewhere in your Netflix queue.

Bandidas -- This barely-released comedy western doesn't really sound all that hot ... but the leads are Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz, so us guys know what we're in for. Sounds a bit like Bad Girls (only this time the jokes are intentional), but with Sam Shepard,Steve Zahn and Dwight Yoakam on board, it sounds just colorful enough to warrant a rental. Weirdly enough, the flick was co-written by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) and Robert Mark Kamen (The Karate Kid). Extras include a leading ladies' audio commentary, a featurette and a trailer.

Conversations with Other Women -- One of my very favorite movies of last year. Aaron Eckhart and the seriously awesome Helena Bonham Carter star as a boy and a girl who 'meet cute' at a wedding ... only it sure seems like they once knew each other long ago. Features a split-screen technique that's clever to some and annoying to others, but I think it's one of the most realistically romantic movies I've seen in a long time. Extras include a whole bunch of featurettes.

Crank -- If you liked Running Scared, you'll probably like Crank. If you have no interest whatsoever in action movies that take the laws of physics and twist them into bizarrely tasty pretzels, you will not like Crank. It's about a (rapidly) dying hitman who aims to get one last afternoon of high-end revenge out of his system. Imagine the classic noir D.O.A. did 140 lines of cocaine, and that's Crank. Extras include an audio commentary, some featurettes, a few interviews and a "family friendly audio option," which only partially makes sense because Crank has a lot more "adult material" than just salty language.

Idiocracy -- One of 2006's most overlooked little winners, this one comes from Mike Judge, creator of the insta-cult classic Office Space. Luke Wilson plays an exceedingly average schmo who gets frozen and wakes up 1,000 years later ... as the smartest man on Earth. Not all the jokes fly and the flick feels fairly scattershot from time to time, but there's some really quick-witted and clever stuff in there as well. Judge also does the relatively impossible by making Dax Shepard funny. Befitting the manner in which Fox totally abandoned the film, the DVD extras are limited to a few deleted scenes.

The Illusionist -- It's fun to hear film critics debate the quality of The Illusionist over the similarly-themed The Prestige, but I thought both of 'em were very well-made and eminently watchable. This one (the smaller one) stars Paul Giamatti as a police inspector who aims to expose a turn-of-the-century magician -- but finds the task more than a little difficult. Edward Norton stars, and he's backed up by folks like Jessica Biel and a wonderfully evil Rufus Sewell. Extras include a director's commentary and two featurettes.

The Night Listener -- Still haven't managed to catch up with this one, but it stars Robin Williams as a radio personality who gets involved in the life of a dying kid. No, it's not Patch Adams 2. Toni Collette and Rory Culkin co-star. Extras include a featurette and one deleted scene.

Coming next week: Brothers of the Head, Employee of the Month, Gridiron Gang, The Protector and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.

With only $9 million, The Covenant took top spot at the box office this weekend, marking the lowest opening for a number one film in three years. Seriously, $9 million? Man, did anyone go to the movies this weekend? With its PG-13 rating, pic chased after a younger, boy band-ish demographic, however, three-quarters of the audience was 18 or older.

Ben Affleck and the name 'Superman' was enough to boost Hollywoodland ($6 million) into the weekend's number two spot, even though it opened about $1 million shy of what studio execs were expecting. After finishing first two weeks in a row, Disney's Invincible failed to stay ahead of the pack, falling to third place with $5.8 million. Tony Jaa's martial arts extravaganza, The Protector ($5 million), and Jason Statham's Crank ($4.8 million) rounded out the top five.

Full numbers after the jump.

After Disney and Mark Wahlberg ran off with the top numbers at the box office last weekend, Invincible managed to snag the top spot yet again, taking in an estimated $15.2 million -- lifting the film to an 11-day total of $37.8 million. Jason Statham's adrenalin-fueled Crank managed to out-duel Nic Cage's remake of The Wicker Man by sliding into the weekend's second spot with $13 million, while the latter picked up $11.7 million to round out the top three.

Little Miss Sunshine continued to live up to its name as "the little summer indie that could" by finishing fourth with $9.7 million, bringing its total to $35.8 million. However, Talladega Nights:The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (last week's number two film) ran smack into a slew of Labor Day traffic, forcing the Will Ferrell laffer to fall way down into the sixth spot with $7.7 million. Crossover ($4.5 million) and Outcast's Idlewild ($2.9 million) failed to find an audience this weekend, as well as a comfy spot in the top ten. Oh, and those damn snakes have officially left the building. Thank God.

Full numbers after the jump.

Less a movie than a blunt instrument, Crank is an explosion of sex and violence, set to a deafening soundtrack and cobbled together by a crazed editor. From the look of it, first-time directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor wanted to make a compact film -- it's only 83 minutes (they're long, long minutes) -- but refused to leave out a single one of the insane images and visual flourishes they'd been collecting in their heads in preparation for their cinematic debut (both men come from an advertising background). As a result, the film has a terrible case of ADD: Scenes are chock-full of unnecessary visual touches that, while striking and interesting if used judiciously, quickly lose their power when they show up in every scene -- several times.

Jason Statham plays Chev Chelios, a hitman with possibly the most absurd name in the history of cinema. He awakens one morning with blurred vision -- the handheld camera shows us his point-of-view -- and in extreme physical pain, but with no idea what happened to him. Careening around his huge, warehouse-style apartment, he comes upon a DVD resting on his (of course) giant flat-screen television. And from the obscenity scrawled on its face, we can assume the disc wasn't there when Chelios went to bed. The star of the DVD is Verona (Jose Pablo Cantillo), a cringingly stereotypical Latino Villain who chews through the limited scenery as he gleefully tells Chelios he's been poisoned with "some Chinese sh*t", and has just an hour or so to live. So the movie opens with its central character already dead (much like D.O.A. did way back in 1950 -- and then again in 1988), and the bad guy's confession already out of the way: Forget solving a crime (already done) or avoiding danger (no point): Chelios gets to spend the whole movie trying to track down and kill Verona before his time runs out. Needless to say, blood will be spilled, limbs severed and cars crashed in the process.

You're a Lionsgate executive who's desperately searching for a way in which to get butts into the seats for a movie called Crank, so you hatch a rather clever plan: Take the opening scene from a movie that's a guaranteed hit, and promise to play the clip in front of a movie that's ... not ... a guaranteed hit.

Yep, word of out Lionsgateville is that if you buy a ticket to see Jason Statham in Crank, you'll also be treated to the opening scene from Saw 3 -- at no extra cost! Crank, which looks like it could have been called Transporter 3: Final Delivery, is about a guy who's been injected with a horrific poison that'll kill him if his adrenalin level drops too low, and so he spends his final day wreaking havoc on his murderers while doing whatever he can to keep that adrenalin flowing. Sounds a little like D.O.A. meets Trainspotting, plus it stars the awesomely bald bad-ass known as Jason Statham, so I say Crank could possibly be a pretty good time at the multiplex. (The trailer sure isn't short on adrenalin, at any rate.)

And if the hardcore horror nuts happen to buy a few extra Crank tickets just to see the Saw 3 clip, well that'd be an example of a pretty clever marketing technique. Crank, which also stars Amy Smart and Efren Ramirez, opens on September 1st. The inevitably torture-laden Saw 3 opens on October 27th. (Ah, and that trailer has recently moved into new digs at Quicktime. Enjoy.)

UPDATE: BD.com is reporting that the MPAA has a major problem with the clip, so forget the whole thing...

While camping over the weekend, the group I was with decided to play one of those board games where you ask a question and then, based on the answers, one person has to guess who said what. One of the questions was, "In your opinion, what's the worst way a person can die?" Lovely game, huh? Especially when you're in the middle of the woods and just recently watched The Blair Witch Project for the umpteenth time.

Being the creative genius that I am, I believe I came up with an elaborate answer that involved some sort of adult-sized shredder. Damn, would that suck. Ever since 9/11, our society has been plagued by the 'what ifs'. What if it happens again? What if they bomb a train, a plain, a bus, a building or a school? What if they use toxic gas? What if they pollute our water? Each and every single day, we're forced to walk around with the belief that, at some point in the near future, all of our worst fears will come true ... again.

The following films all examine the fear of death, placing their characters in situations where tough choices need to be made ... and fast. Now, I don't think we have to worry about a monster rising out of a lake, destroying the nearest town. Yet, a dirty bomb going off in the middle of Los Angeles, no matter how it plays out on screen, is still a very real threat. What are your worst fears? Welcome to this week's Trailer Park: