Crank writer/directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor rehash elements of The Running Man, Rollerball and Death Race 2000 for this cynical exercise in gratuitous sex and ridiculous violence. In the near future, online gamers control real people in a shoot 'em up game called "Slayers". Their avatars are death-row inmates, who are promised their freedom if they complete 30 missions. 300 star Gerard Butler plays Kable, superstar of the "Slayers" and well on his way to a reunion with his wife and daughter. But the game's nasty billionaire creator (played by Dexter star Michael C Hall) isn't going to let his top avatar go without a fight. The film's hyperactive visual style, facile attempts at satire (internet users are all obese sex maniacs) and sci-fi clichés quickly turn it into an endurance test. And it's just as crude, unpleasant and obvious as one would expect from a movie with a character named Rick Rape (an embarrassing performance from Milo Ventimiglia of TV's Heroes).

Mind-control technology has taken society by a storm, a multiplayer on-line game called "Slayers" allows players to control human prisoners in mass-scale. Simon controls Kable, the online champion of the game. Kable's ultimate challenge becomes regaining his identity and independence by defeating the game's mastermind.