REVIEW: ‘Premium Rush’ will get your blood pumping
Prepare for the ride of your life.
Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Leavitt) is one of 1500 bicycle messengers in New York City. Formerly a law student, he opted to take to the streets instead of taking the bar exam.
Wilee loves the thrill of riding through traffic with no brakes. His ex-girlfriend Vanessa (Dania Ramirez) is a fellow messenger who has shifted gears to a safer ride, Manny (Wolé Parks), a well dressed cyclist who loves to brag, especially when he talks with Wilee.
Wilee receives his assignments from his boss, Raj (Aasif Mandvi), who manages one of the bike messenger centers in the area. Between his map app, knowledge of the streets, and crazy skills, Wilee is one of the best couriers in the city.
After picking up a package from a worried customer, Wilee is stopped by a man, Bobby Monday (Michael Shannon), who demands the package be given to him. When Wilee refuses, the stranger threatens to hurt him and the people he cares about.
Using his wit, Wilee escapes, but is relentlessly pursued by Monday. The speed of the film and of Wilee’s bike picks up as more of the puzzle is put together while more pieces reveal themselves.
“Premium Rush” is a great non-stop action film that demonstrated the true to life values of loyalty and teamwork real world bike messengers experience while also showing the danger and risk those men and women endure every day.
The scenes of the deliveries and the insane maneuvers through traffic shown by Gordon-Leavitt, Ramirez, Parks, and the other riders are accurate to the real bike messengers of New York.
The movie reminded me of the video game Mirror’s Edge, except it was on bikes instead of freerunning. If you enjoyed Mirror’s Edge, you will have a lot of fun with the rush of “Premium Rush.”
One of the special abilities Wilee has is a Sherlock Holmes-like analysis of routes ahead when maneuvering gets tricky. Bike messengers have to think like chess players-always thinking ahead a few steps. I enjoyed seeing those scenarios acted out in Wilee’s head.
Another fun feature of the movie was the three-dimensional map of New York City that was frequently used to show locations of the various cyclists and to keep the pace of the film moving.
The stunt work was amazing. The whole movie seemed to be a chase scene, consisting of bikes, cars, feet, and more. There were so many stunts; the stuntmen list was longer than that of the actors.
Unfortunately, Monday’s character is so annoying and crazy that it’s hard to believe he’s serious. He’s not extreme enough to be funny, but he’s not down to earth enough to be scary.
One point of advice if you choose to watch this movie: Try not to blink too often. Watch the clock to keep track of when events occurred so you can keep up with the sometimes sporadic story. The non-linear timeline helps to keep the audience in the dark just enough to keep you guessing.
Parts of the movie are so random they are hard to believe. The events portrayed in the movie are too weird to be “just one of those days.” However, truth is stranger than fiction, so maybe something like this has happened before.
All things considered, “Premium Rush” is highly entertaining and exciting. If you like riding bikes, going fast, crazy stunts or non-stop chase scenes, you’ll like the rush of this movie.
Director and writer David Koepp’s most famous directoral piece is “Secret Window,” and he wrote the screenplays for “Mission Impossible,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Spider-Man,” making him a great choice for an action packed thriller like “Premium Rush.”
Gordon-Leavitt is a great actor. His resume includes such hits as “(500) Days of Summer,” “Inception,” and the summer blockbuster “The Dark Knight Rises.” He always delivers, and his talent is demonstrated once again in “Premium Rush.” He perfectly played the part of a reckless thrill seeker with an attitude, which is a very believable character when compared to the real life bike messengers.
Shannon is definitely not my favorite actor. None of his roles have ever stuck out to me, even for his more well-known roles, in such movies as “Vanilla Sky” and “Pearl Harbor.” I wish Koepp had chosen a different actor — it would have boosted the rating of the film.
The soundtracks composer David Sardy created have been few in number, but great in quality (“Zombieland,” “21”), and the score for “Premium Rush” was no different. His score, and the songs he chose to accompany it, were modern and upbeat, but it never detracted from the plot.
If you need an adrenaline rush to start off your semester, walk, drive, or ride to “Premium Rush.”
– Spencer Palmer is a graduate student working toward an MBA with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. Email him at spencer.palmer@aggiemail.usu.edu or visit his website, themovieknight.wordpress.com.