Premium Rush showcases inventiveness when focused on the speed and danger of cycling through a city environment, focused on low-lying angles that capture twirling spokes and huffing bodies as the world blurs around them. Koepp's objective becomes clear once the camera follows Wilee through New York's grid: he's out to create visually-driven suspense that gets someone on a bike from one side of the city to the other as quickly as possible, weaving through obstructions with an intuitive eye. Premium Rush starts things off by steeping the audience in the culture, similarly to the way Quicksilver does, but then it progresses towards revealing the details of that assignment. But that's not the Wilee first seen in the film's initial scene: sweaty, starry-eyed, and hugging pavement, he's presumably knocked down due to the events that drive a time-ticker that also appears on-screen, and it's reasonable to assume that it's because of a specific job. Despite his work as Security Courier not current offering the most hospitable of atmospheres - he recently broke up with his messenger girlfriend, Vanessa (Dania Ramirez), and he's vying for routes against a muscle-bound rival, Manny (Wolé Parks) - he maintains a substantial amount of assignments due to his speed and skill in navigating New York's obstacle-heavy, car-laden network. Gordon-Levitt saddles a break-free, fixed-gear cycle as Wilee, an educated and risk-taking messenger whose character mixes eccentricity and control with an urge to push his limits. The gravitas of competition, the thrill of pursuit, and the bare-knuckled rationale behind why the riders do what they do surround an unassuming hero in rising star Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and while it could stand to focus and flesh out the substance driving its underlying conflict, it's indeed a exhilarating, polished rush. Driven by creative but integral visual tricks that briskly glide through New York's maze of streets, shops, and cars, this is a production that understands its meager purpose - get the audience wrapped up in the bike messenger scene for a straightforward action-suspense film - and pours its attention into oiling up the mechanics that pedal it forward. David Koepp's Premium Rush hit that spot when I was seeking this kind of diversion. The decision to use "real rather than digital stunts and effects" is a nice nod to the "DIY ethos of fixed-gear" cyclists like Wilee, but it's also a little precious, "like collecting vinyl records, taking up sewing, baking your own bread, handwriting thank you notes." As long as you're into that, Premium Rush "provides just about all the late summer air-conditioned relief you could hope for." But if you're not, beware.īottom line: Old fashioned, for better or worse.Sometimes you just need a simple adrenaline rush of a movie, where chases and sturdy characters types impulsively move through a blur of suspense. Premium Rush"Īnd the self-consciously retro stunts aren't for everyone: You should head into the film expecting "buoyant dumb-fun," says Manohla Dargis in The New York Times. "Gordon-Levitt brings sweaty substantiality to.
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Despite the sweaty thrills, the movie ends up being "half-entertaining, half-exasperating."
But "ultimately there's only so much you can do on a bike." Premium Rush is only 91 minutes long, but "it barely has enough forward motion to make it through" even that abbreviated run. Premium Rush, reviewed."Īctually, Premium Rush is a bit flimsy: Sure, "there's definite romance to be found here in the whirling of spokes, the communing of man and machine, and the crazy freedom of cutting through a dense urban landscape" with apparent ease, says Alison Willmore at Movieline. But the two lead actors are great, Koepp "directs the film with a driving energy that the dopey premise needs but doesn't necessarily deserve," and above all, the action sequences "are extremely well-shot and viscerally thrilling." There's not much to the movie but bike chases, but the real-life action makes for a thrilling ride. Implausibly, the film clicks beautifully: As someone who absolutely hates all cyclists in New York City, "I was awfully predisposed to hate Premium Rush," says Will Leitch at Deadspin.
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