5 Great Video Game Movies That Aren't Based On Video Games

5. Crank (Grand Theft Auto)

Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series is one of the most popular franchises of all time in any digital medium. It’s infamous and record breaking. So it’s surprising really that we haven’t been force-fed a GTA movie by some studio who can do the math that, 1+1=so much God damn money. But let’s not dwell on what no one really wants and appreciate what we have instead.

Crank is mental. It’s a madness franchise that chronicles one man on his journey to keep himself alive by keeping his adrenaline topped up. He does this with a cocktail of heavy drug use, energy drink consumption, routine violence, and a cheeky bit of ‘hows ya father?’ Much like the GTA series, our protagonist, ‘Chev Chelios', played by everyman yet no man Jason Statham, goes from speeding in hijacked cars to sprinting up busy streets, taking out bystanders and visiting strip clubs when the appropriate timing arises, all with a charming accent.

It’s a fever dream of one man making a city his circumstantial playground, and we’re along for the ride. Crank is like watching your mate who’s finished the story mode on GTA and is now revelling in the destruction he can create. It also has video game logic at its most simple. Fall out of a sky-born helicopter, land on a car, lose a bit of health, continue on.