Last time we saw Amy Smart in a Crank movie, she was having crazy, adrenalized sex with Jason Statham on the mean streets of Chinatown to cheers from gawking locals. How can anything in the sequel possibly top that? “Well, my character has become even more sexually liberated,” Amy says of her role in Crank: High Voltage, “so she decides to give pole dancing a shot.” Yes, in a bit of female empowerment, the former a put-upon girlfriend has become a stripper.
The new flick sees the stunning star of dude-friendly flicks such as Road Trip, The Butterfly Effect, and Just Friends reprising her role as Eve, the main squeeze of Statham’s character. In the original Crank—one of 2006’s biggest action movies—he was injected with a “Beijing cocktail” that would kill him if his pulse dropped too low. At the climax (spoiler alert!) Statham falls out of a helicopter, crashes on a car, and bounces onto the pavement. Wondering how in the hell there can be a sequel? “Everybody I’ve told about Crank 2 asks me the same question,” Amy explains. “People think he died, but he actually survived.” And how does that work, exactly? Heart transplant? Visit from a miraculous televangelist? “I don’t want to give it away—it’s too cool!” As for how she feels about acting opposite a bunch of sweaty dudes, Amy has no problem at all. “It’s definitely a boys’ club, and there’s lots of testosterone,” she laughs, “but that’s what’s so fun about making these movies.”
