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#410 - Premium Rush
David Koepp, 2012
A New York City bike messenger is assigned to deliver a package that draws unwelcome attention from an extremely corrupt police detective.
On its surface, Premium Rush seems like it'll be an engaging enough high-concept mix of lightweight comedy and thrills as it takes a fairly standard MacGuffin plot and builds it into the world of bike messengers, who do exactly what the name implies. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays one such messenger who is ready to narrate his carefree philosophy about how much he enjoys his job in between snarking at every character he comes across regardless of how much he actually likes them. His skill at bike-riding also extends to him developing a preternatural ability to predict different routes through rush-hour traffic and whether or not they would result in him crashing. The plot picks up when he has to deliver a seemingly innocuous package, but he soon becomes a target for an unruly detective (Michael Shannon) who becomes obsessed with getting his hands on the package that Gordon-Levitt is carrying. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse game that frequently jumps back and forth in time to showcase the perspectives of various players such as Shannon and the package's sender (Jamie Chung), thus explaining what's in the package and why everyone needs it sent one way or the other.
Despite the supposedly high-speed premise that involves chases up and down the busy streets of New York, Premium Rush ends up being not so much dull as slightly irritating. Gordon-Levitt's cockiness far outweighs his charm and makes for an annoying protagonist while nearly everyone else involved delivers equally flat or unlikeable performances. Shannon is the one who stands out in any favourable way, even if he is just channeling his usual brand of Walken-like weirdness. It struggles to fill out its already brief running time in any meaningful way, relying on extended flashbacks and unnecessarily convoluted circumstances to pad things out. Even the promise of fast bike chases and stunts isn't enough to keep this entertaining. The film also seems unsure of how seriously it wants to take itself as well, with its jokes not being funny while the serious nature of the climax is downplayed considerably. The entire "flash mob" sequence alone is enough to break what little suspension of disbelief you might have left. Premium Rush definitely ends up being the kind of movie that has been done far better before, and the introduction of bicycles does nothing to make it a sufficiently interesting film in its own right.
David Koepp, 2012
A New York City bike messenger is assigned to deliver a package that draws unwelcome attention from an extremely corrupt police detective.
On its surface, Premium Rush seems like it'll be an engaging enough high-concept mix of lightweight comedy and thrills as it takes a fairly standard MacGuffin plot and builds it into the world of bike messengers, who do exactly what the name implies. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays one such messenger who is ready to narrate his carefree philosophy about how much he enjoys his job in between snarking at every character he comes across regardless of how much he actually likes them. His skill at bike-riding also extends to him developing a preternatural ability to predict different routes through rush-hour traffic and whether or not they would result in him crashing. The plot picks up when he has to deliver a seemingly innocuous package, but he soon becomes a target for an unruly detective (Michael Shannon) who becomes obsessed with getting his hands on the package that Gordon-Levitt is carrying. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse game that frequently jumps back and forth in time to showcase the perspectives of various players such as Shannon and the package's sender (Jamie Chung), thus explaining what's in the package and why everyone needs it sent one way or the other.
Despite the supposedly high-speed premise that involves chases up and down the busy streets of New York, Premium Rush ends up being not so much dull as slightly irritating. Gordon-Levitt's cockiness far outweighs his charm and makes for an annoying protagonist while nearly everyone else involved delivers equally flat or unlikeable performances. Shannon is the one who stands out in any favourable way, even if he is just channeling his usual brand of Walken-like weirdness. It struggles to fill out its already brief running time in any meaningful way, relying on extended flashbacks and unnecessarily convoluted circumstances to pad things out. Even the promise of fast bike chases and stunts isn't enough to keep this entertaining. The film also seems unsure of how seriously it wants to take itself as well, with its jokes not being funny while the serious nature of the climax is downplayed considerably. The entire "flash mob" sequence alone is enough to break what little suspension of disbelief you might have left. Premium Rush definitely ends up being the kind of movie that has been done far better before, and the introduction of bicycles does nothing to make it a sufficiently interesting film in its own right.