Premium Rush

I'll be honest – when I first saw the trailer for Premium Rush I was a bit skeptical. I scoffed at the idea of a thriller built around the premise of a bike messenger delivering an important envelope on time. But you know what? This is one of those rare late summer releases that comes out of nowhere and entertains you way more than you could have expected.

There's no pretense here. No delusions of grandeur. No misguided Academy aspirations. Premium Rush is a film that recognizes the boundaries of its skin and is completely comfortable in it. It's simply a fun, fast, and intense 90-minute ride that's equal parts tension and comic relief.

Rather than potentially spoil any of the details, I'll let you watch the finer points of the plot unravel on screen. Multiple back-stories are told via time flashbacks, so some of the events might get lost in the translation if you're not paying close attention. What you need to know is that the essence of the film rests in following Joseph Gordon-Levitt's bike journey through the streets of Manhattan as he attempts to deliver his envelope with a scene-stealing Michael Shannon and an I-take-my-job-way-too-seriously bike cop hot on his tail.

You'll recoil and cringe as JGL weaves in and out of traffic, avoiding vehicles and pedestrians alike. You'll laugh as the aforementioned bike cop continually regroups and continues his quest. And you'll love to hate Mr. Shannon as he deftly demonstrates his character's impulse control issues.

I've always heard people say how good of an actor Michael Shannon is, but I've never really seen him in anything. I will definitely seek out more of his work after enjoying his performance in Premium Rush. His hypocritical diatribe on how disgusted he is by the lowering of today's standards had me laughing several minutes after he delivered it. I loved this guy!

I also enjoyed what I am branding the "alternate scenario cam" – whenever JGL finds himself in a tight situation, the camera shows him quickly calculating his possible routes and their potential outcomes, many of which end in hilarity and disaster for either Mr. Gordon-Levitt or an unsuspecting pedestrian.

Premium Rush keeps the pace tight and the audience engaged. The camera work forces us right in the middle of the traffic and the blaring car horns, allowing us to experience the tension both visibly and audibly.

The film's main drawback is its abundance of profanity and crass talk. The worst offenders are one f-bomb and more than 10 uses of G-d**n.

Premium Rush never takes itself too seriously, and neither should you. As long as you check your expectations at the theater door then I'm confident the majority of you will find that this film – much like its bike messenger protagonist- delivers.

Though rather generic, Premium Rush provides an extraordinarily entertaining ride. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, though not having to much to do other then ride his bicycle still is a truly likable hero and Michael Shannon, who's screen time seems a bit out of proportion to me makes for an entertaining semi-psychopath. All this is skillfully delivered by director David Koepp who apparently knows how to write a screenplay too, finding breakneck pacing for the movie while twisting the plot with some timeshifts really makes the ride premium to some degree. If you are looking for some quality entertainment, look no further.

7/10

Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a high risk bike messenger. Bobby Monday (Michael Shannon) is a corrupted cop who's desperate for what Wilee is carrying. That's as simple as it gets. There isn't much more substance in the story.

The story is simplistic and reasonable. The involvement of the snakeheads allow a minimal semblance of substance in the writing. Make no mistake, this is about the action. And it's got great exciting NYC street racing action. David Koepp is the writer/director here. He's a prolific Hollywood writer and has directed a couple of good thrillers. In this one, he used all of his action skills.

An action movie about biking through the streets of Manhattan is certainly an interesting idea, and may seem a bit silly, but writer and director David Koepp manages to create a fun and exhilarating film around this premise. Premium Rush is the type of movie that gets better as it goes on, expanding on its characters and creating riveting and never tiresome chase scenes.

The story is a little over the top, but that hardly matters. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Wilee, a bike messenger who loves to ride through the streets of New York like a maniac, with no gears and no brakes. He has a girlfriend who also works for the same company, although on this particular day she is mad at him for not showing up to her college graduation. Near the end of the day, Wilee gets a package from his girl's roommate. This package is of some special importance because a dirty cop, played with exquisite menace and insanity by Michael Shannon, wants the package in order to pay off his immense gambling debt. So of course a chase across the city ensues throughout the remainder of the day.

One of the major benefits of this movie is that it is not told in strict chronological order. The first scene shows Wilee crashing and flying through the air, only for us to travel back in time to earlier that day. Once we meet Michael Shannon's character and have a nice chase, the movie again backs up for a bit, revealing what the dirty cop was doing earlier that day. This helps the movie to avoid being simple and tired. In fact, the movie has an energy that is on par with its bike riding characters, who seem to hardly ever tire of pedaling.

Koepp directs the movie with a flare for Manhattan, where the entire movie was shot. The film makes a big deal about life in the city, while minimizing the gaudier aspects of filming in the big apple. There is no sweeping shots of Time Square or the Empire State Building, and we don't even get a wide shot of the city until the very end. Instead, Koepp immerses us in the town, and by extension the characters that know it so well. At times the script falls into the realm of cheesiness, especially when it comes to some of the one liners, and the all encompassing pride that Wilee has in his work.

Premium Rush is an exiting action movie, and the best one out about bike riding. Michael Shannon's fantastic performance and the on location shooting make this movie an energetic and awesome ride.

thatguythatlikesmovies.blogspot.com

The movie is set around bicycle messenger/courier who chases and is chased around New York City due to an envelope containing a wanted item by people with different intentions. The events - not shown in chronological order, through various flash-forward and flash-back cuts - are intense, but not too realistic: New York is full of policemen, on foot/in cars/on bikes, and it is not likely to race and speed negligently for miles through dozens of blocks, causing accidents or incidents... Chases are, however, gripping to follow, and thanks to great performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Wilee and Michael Shannon as Bobby Monday, the movie goes beyond trivial cat and mouse play (only pity that Monday did not have the same vehicle than Wilee). Female performers, on the other hand, are not very catchy and romantic/sympathetic background is rather perfunctory.

The movie is definitely for you if you like fast races and thrill within a big city and/or you know NY well (joy of recognition).