Second Chance Reviews - Premium Rush

 

            The bad news this week is that I wasn’t able to make it out to the movies to give you a new review. However, the good news is I do have a Second Chance Review for you.  

            My guest reviewer this week is Sherlock Jones. If you’ve been following the column you met his partner, Dave Watson, a couple of weeks ago. Sherlock is definitely has a different style than Dave and I felt he was a better match for reviewing this movie.  

Randy: Good morning, Sherlock.  

Sherlock: Why do you have me doing this? 

Randy: Doing what? Talking to me? 

Sherlock: That too. But I’m talking about doing movie reviews. I already deal with Hollywood more than I want. Give me a break; let me do restaurant reviews or even women’s shoe store reviews.  

Randy: No can do. You might as well accept the inevitable.  

Sherlock: In that case . . . the interview is over.

 

Premium Rush   $$ 1/2 

 

 

PG-13

91 Minutes

Director: David Koepp

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dania Ramirez, and Michael Shannon.

      

            Typical of Hollywood, we are asked to believe that a bright young man with excellent prospects in the business world chooses to risk his life everyday as a bike courier in New York. In fact, that he actually embraces the thrill of racing through the city streets on a bike without any breaks. If that sounds reasonable to you then you’ll probably like this movie.

            Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a bike courier who lives for the thrill of navigating the dangerous streets of New York in order to deliver packages on time for people he doesn’t know or care about. Vanessa (Dania Ramirez) is tired of the needless risk and wants a more committed relationship between the two of them.

            Then he is asked to deliver a package that Detective Bobby Monday (Michael Shannon) is determined to take for his own. Through a series of rewind/flashbacks we find out why one of NYC finest wants the package along with rest of the major plot points in the film. In-between these flashes of story are scenes of Wilee recklessly peddling through the streets of New York.

            The initial flashback sequence is effective at grabbing the viewer’s attention. Seeing Wilee hit by a car and then tumble through the air certainly leaves the audience curious about what led up to that moment. We rewind to earlier that day and find out. But towards the end of the movie the technique gets a bit tedious.

            Det. Monday is fun to watch in a crazy (and unbelievable) totally out of control sort of way. I enjoyed his performance best out of the flat, two-dimensional characters that make up the front end of the story. You have to delve into the secondary cast to reach characters with motives we care about. Nima (Jamie Chung) and her story with the Asian underground is a far more engaging story and the characters are far more believable.

            However, if you enjoy watching bike stunts and high-adrenaline chases then this will be a movie you’ll want to see. Those are definitely the selling points of the film.              

            Using Randy’s rating system I gave Premium Rush two-and-a-half movie bucks for the nearly non-stop action and some great bike stunts.

 

                        Randy’s Rating System 

$$$$   = Full Price    See this movie right away and pay full price, it’s worth it.

$$$     = Matinee      Catch this as a matinee or other discounted showing.

$$        = Discount     Wait until this movie reaches a discount theater near you.

$          = Rental         Wait until this movie reaches your local video rental outlet.

0          = No Sale       Don’t see this movie at any price.