Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been on a role since 500 Days of Summer, including being in two huge blockbusters: Inception and The Dark Knight Rises (both directed by Christopher Nolan). Now Premium Rush has Levitt front-and-center and while the plot is familiar and simple, it is thrilling and quite a bit of fun to watch. Director David Koepp (Stir of Echoes) provides kinetic energy by having intense sequences of bicyclists dodging everything in sight out on the streets of Manhattan. He wastes no time and makes the movie fast-paced. You just have to hold on for 90 minutes.
Wilee (Levitt) is definitely a skilled cyclist and you have to be in order to be a bicycle messenger in New York. He rides fast and tough on a bike with no brakes. Every time he makes a delivery, he risks his life but he doesn’t seem to mind. It beats sitting in a cubicle all day. However, the job that he loves so much but could end his life at any moment gets turned up a notch when he is asked to pick up his last envelope of the day.
Something that should have been easy turns in to the fight of Wilee’s life. This envelope also attracts the attention of Bobby Monday (Michael Shannon), a dirty cop who first asks nicely for it, but turns nasty with a blink of an eye. What starts out as a routine delivery becomes a life or death chase. It’s a race-against-time for both men.
Levitt seems perfect to play a guy who has a need for speed and rides with no regrets. He has the charisma and charm to be a cyclist with an attitude yet crafty enough to see things in advance and be able to escape the toughest of situations while on his bike. Then there is Shannon who we all know can be nuts. Being the bad guy may seem predictable, but his kind of bad guy mixes humor with aggression. He steals every scene he is in, and it’s not hard imagining being terrified if Shannon was chasing you all over the city. It’s the performances of Levitt and Shannon along with the great stunts and action sequences that take this bicycle movie to the next level and turns it into a true adrenaline rush.
Now Premium Rush has its flaws and isn’t perfect. There are a couple of times toward the end where you’re ready for the delivery to finally be made. The bicycle chases are cool, but there comes a time when we eventually have to get to the point of destination. And Koepp likes to keep going back in to the past and make the audience watch flashbacks one too many times.
But with that said, it does manage to keep you in suspense for most of the time. You just can’t help but be on the edge of your seat during those dangerous moments of when you’re expecting to see a bike smash in to a vehicle and the person on it flying off and hitting the pavement head first. The fact they might still be breathing after is nothing short of a miracle.
Premium Rush does deliver in the end, yet just not in spectacular form. However, it does get the job done.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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