Premium Rush: Stuck Between Gears

I was so excited to review Premium Rush, so you can imagine my disappointment when it did not live up to expectations. It’s not a terrible movie by any stretch of the imagination, but its constant slowing of the pace leaves the viewer feeling like someone just let the air out of their tires.

The plot seems fairly simple, just as a popcorn movie plot should: devoted bike messenger Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is desperate to take one more delivery for the day. When a woman named Nima (Jamie Chung) wants a premium rush delivery and asks for him by name, Wilee hops on his custom bike to begin a cross town journey to deliver the goods. Unbeknownst to him, the package is worth a lot to corrupt cop Bobby Monday, (Michael Shannon) who is in over his head in debt to a Chinese gambling ring. Over the course of 90 semi-action packed minutes Wilee is locked into a literal race against time that involves his girlfriend Vanessa (Dania Ramirez), rival messenger Manny (Wole Parks) and some bad dudes from Chinatown.

The story problems with Premium Rush stem from identity issues. It’s a movie that’s not quite sure if it’s an action movie, drama, or comedy; and it does a poor job of combining the three genres. The pacing is incredibly off-putting, as the action is frequently stopped dead to flashback and fill in backstory. It’s a flaw in the script that I don’t have the answer for, and it’s surprising that it comes from veteran writer/director David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Panic Room, Mission Impossible, Secret Window, and Carlito’s Way… to name a few). For we all know that flashback for purposes of back story fill-in is one of the cardinal sins. It’s right on up there with voice over—only a select few geniuses can get away with it.

For me Koepp’s screenplay had believability issues. I can suspend disbelief for the most part, but the fact that Wiley shows up at the very same police station as Bobby Monday and the Bike Cop (Christopher Place) that’s been following him was hard to stomach. There are twenty-odd precincts in Manhattan alone, and Wiley happens to show up just as the two rivals arrive? I kept expecting a twist to occur that explained all of the coincidences, but it never came. As a viewer I was just expected to believe that of the nearly two million people living in Manhattan, these three just happened to arrive at the same time on that particular day. Now sometimes that happens in real life and this could simply be a case of the unreliability of truth. Then again, maybe a scissor-happy producer got involved and ruined the continuity of the narrative. Based on this viewing alone, it’s impossible to tell.

In addition to story believability, I felt there was one major character flaw. Wiley doesn’t have enough at stake to deliver the package. After nearly being killed by Bobby Monday, he decides to continue to attempt delivery for a mere thirty dollars. We’re supposed to believe that Wiley has some courier’s oath to “always deliver every package” but to what end? To his credit Koepp does introduce a more noble reason to deliver the package after Wiley finally decides that enough is enough, but it comes well after the mid-point of the movie. If the noble reason (which I wont mention for spoilers sake) had been introduced as ‘The Lock In”, this might have been a much better review and a much better movie.

But again, the movie isn’t terrible. It definitely has some positives to offer. From time to time a very fun action sequence occurs, and overall Premium Rush is a sort of love letter to cycling enthusiasts. Wiley pulls off some pretty nifty tricks in traffic, and there’s a fun plot device where he can scan a route in a split second and determine the best way to avoid a collision. We see in flash-forward all of the possibilities, and Wiley always chooses the best possible scenario.

As always Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a dependable actor who delivers a solid performance, even in the midst of script and character flaws. And the villainous Michael Shannon is always fun to watch, and he gives a bizarre twist to the typical corrupt cop scenario with his heightened laughing and quiet self deprecating humor. The two shared some intriguing scenes together, but the rest of the cast fell short of expectations for my movie-going dollar. Some of the more funny lines on paper were delivered in an un-funny way, and often left me yearning for a snarky performance from any number of veteran comedic actors.

Premium Rush is not a movie you need to rush out to see. It’ll be fun enough to rent on DVD, but there’s not much “big-screen” worthy material. For an action movie it’s surprisingly slow, for a drama there’s not enough at stake, and for a comedy there’s not enough punch-line. Despite an interesting premise and solid performances from its main protagonist and antagonist, Premium Rush fails to deliver where it’s needed most.