Review 739: Premium Rush

Premium Rush is (as Roger Ebert eloquently put it), a breakneck chase movie 

Dodging speeding cars, crazed cabbies and eight million cranky pedestrians is all in a day's work for Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is said to be the best bike messenger in Manhattan, New York. It takes a special breed to ride the fixie - super lightweight, single-gear bikes with no breaks and riders who are equal part skilled cyclists and nutcases who risk becoming a smear on the pavement every time they head into traffic. But Wilee is about to get more than he's used to when one of his deliverys - a routine "premium rush" run - turns into a life-or-death chase through the Manhattan.

Premium Rush is a very fun film, it's not exactly high art, but it's very skillfull in its presentation and achieves what it sets out to do. Its characters may not be complex but they're never thinly written. Writer/Director David Koepp (who wrote the screenplays for Sam Raimi's Spider-Man as well as Spielberg's Jurassic Park and War of the Worlds) has likened bike messengers to cowboys with their bikes are like their horses making Premium Rush akin to a western. 

The score by David Sardy is pulse pounding and very electric guitar driven which compliments the films tone and action perfectly.

The action scenes are kinetic and exciting  with cars everywhere, people coming at Wilee from every angle keeping him and his fellow messengers on their toes and giving you the sense that he has to be 100% focused on riding. He can't think about anything else otherwise he becomes roadkill.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt delivers a likeable,   Wilee is a disenchanted Columbia Law School graduate who has put off taking the bar exam for so long because he dreads a boring life as a lawyer. He enjoys being a bike messenger because he enjoys the thrills and the excitement  He rides with no brakes which shows that he's fearless and tells us he lives life on the edge. He's the cowboy who doesn't play by all of society's rules. And yet seems to always be in control. There's a single minded devotion to this lifestyle that Wilee leads which Levitt expertly captures on screen.

Michael Shannon makes for a slimey villain playing corrupt cop Robert "Bobby" Monday. Bobby is a gambling addict and is after Wilee's envelope because he needs to pay off his debts. He's also use to being the biggest bully in the playground. 

Dania Ramirez (whom you may recognise as Callisto from X-Men: The Last Stand) playing Vanessa, Wilee's girlfriend and fellow bike messenger.

Wole Parks is also  playing Manny, Wilee's rival. Bike Messengers are a job. New York City is their office and everyone has a rival at work, who they can't stand and who they're in competition with. Manny is this to Wilee and proves to be an excellent foil for him. Manny is a vain guy who rides for all the wrong reasons and really winds Wilee up and gets under his skin. They also happen to attracted to the same woman so it's going to be impossible for them to get along.

Jamie Chung 

Movies like Premium Rush don't reinvent the wheel, but they deliver the goods and provide some late summer fun. In the hand of Koepp, this  There is nothing routine about Premium Rush. Any simple action can be elevated in the right hands and in those regards it succeeds, 4.5/5.

The Anoymous Critic.