Premium Rush

Premium Rush has plenty of thrills, spills and excitement but an unbalanced tone and a weak third act leave this bicycle action movie just behind at the finish line.

Wiley (Joseph Gordon Levitt) is a fast living bicycle courier in New York. Wiley has romantic issues with his co-worker Vanessa (Dania Ramirez) and competitive issues with his rival Manny (Wolé Parks). The courier job is one that pays lousy but Wiley gets to ride his bike all day – without breaks. What appears to be just another job, Wiley must deliver a mysterious envelope to Chinatown during “premium rush” by 7pm before Michael Shannon’s corrupt cop Bobby Monday can catch up with him.

Writer-Director David Koepp (writer of classic Jurassic Park, director of not-so-much-classic Secret Window) keeps the rush consistent throughout the film. If only there was more premium. There are visual flares throughout the movie – the opening shot of Gordon-Levitt flying through the air in slow motion; the integrating of a Google-maps type device with real time photography; and particularly the scenes where Levitt must decide the best route through traffic that won’t lead to a violent death – but the film is lacking a tighter screenplay and more developed characters.

Levitt is an endearing screen presence but after leading roles in 500 Days of Summer and supporting action roles in Inception and The Dark Knight Rises I feel like I’ve seen the same character several times. I would like to see him stretched a bit further like his roles in Mysterious Skin and Brick. There’s not much to his Wilee character other than he is a trained lawyer and only rides his bike for the “rush” and the fear of sitting behind a desk. The romantic subplot between Levitt and Ramirez seems like an afterthought as does the love triangle with Parks’ Manny.

Michael Shannon playing the role of the villain makes his character more sympathetic than if it was in lesser hands. Shannon is a terrific actor and will hopefully turn on the malignance in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel next year. That malignance is much needed and Koepp’s screenplay has reduced the villain to a more benign threat than he should be. The real peril of the movie is the rush hour New York traffic rather than Shannon’s Det. Monday.

Premium Rush is fun and exciting but falls short of being anything more. There are plot holes and throwaway characters but Levitt, Shannon and newcomer Ramirez are such talented actors that the film never becomes unbearable. Much like the protagonist’s bike, Premium Rush has no brakes and rides headfirst without much thought – narrowly avoiding a devastating collision.

3/5