Premium Rush - Movie Review

Movie Review

Premium Rush is a brief glimpse into the life of a bike messenger who loves his job. “Fixed frame–no brakes.” Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) likes living on the edge and just can’t see himself in an office. He’s an intelligent character (he apparently graduated law school, but opted out of taking the Bar Exam), and he thinks his way out of predicaments. He ends up carrying an envelope that multiple people want–you’re given just enough information about what’s in the package and why people want it to keep you interested. He’s also in a somewhat volatile relationship with Vanessa (Dania Ramirez), another bike messenger.

The big bad is Detective Robert (Bobby) Monday, played by Michael Shannon. He plays it a bit over-the-top, but in an really entertaining way, showing a man who gets progressively more desperate as time goes on, willing to do more and more outrageous things.

The time span of the whole movie is less than three hours. It’s fast paced, and they up-the-ante by using a disjointed timeline, telling the story as a series of flashbacks. This works surprisingly well, as they dole out another piece of the puzzle just as the viewers start to get antsy. Unlike The Odd Life of Timothy Green, they don’t give the ending away from the start!

Lots of entertaining visuals: showing the GPS routes across Manhattan to give an idea of just how much ground the bike messengers are covering, a look inside Wilee’s thinking when he runs into traffic problems and the alternate routes he could take (and the consequences if he chooses wrong), and of course the nooks and crannies of the City.

Almost the entire movie takes place out on the streets of Manhattan, with bike messenger Wilee, lane splitting and recklessly dashing about. For most of it he’s also being chased by someone, either the bike cop he managed to annoy early on by his reckless disregard for the etiquette of riding a bike or someone after the package. There are chases, races, and general mayhem.

Unlike a number of this summer’s movies, this one ties up the plot neatly, with a satisfying ending. It’s a story we’ve seen before, but it’s well handled, and you’ll leave the theater feeling both good and entertained.

Note to SciFi buffs: whenever Detective Monday misidentifies himself, he always uses the name Forrest J Ackerman–one of the writers must be a fan . . . I giggled every time he did it.

Elektra Hammond
Buzzy Mag Editor & Reviewer