Michael Ledo Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is an underachiever bike messenger in NYC. He has issues with his girlfriend Vanessa (Dania Ramirez) who in turn is being evicted by her roommate Nima(Jamie Chung) and she is being hit on by Wilee's work mate Manny (Wolé Parks).Wilee likes to ride and is reckless. Once we get some quick character introductions, Wilee has to pick up a message from Nima...a premium rush, and deliver it in China Town. There is a policeman (Michael Shannon) with a gambling debt that is attempting to intercept the message.The plot is straight forward with no twists. Most of the film is bike riding. The film starts out as a flashback and then gives us flashbacks within the flashback to explain plot points. I was rather bored with the whole film, but this might have a younger audience appeal.Parental guide: 1 F-bomb (why do they do that?), no sex or nudity.

CJFouraki Premium Rush is fun, humorous and exciting. Penned and directed by David Koepp, this is a film that keeps moving and takes the audience for one hell of a ride. Who thought bicycle chases could be so fun?Joseph Gordon Levitt is our hero in this and does a really good job, delivering his character well. Dania Ramirez, Wole Parks and Aasif Mandvi or did well and really added to the film with their characters. I think the best has to be Michael Shannon, as he was great in this as an unhinged, dirty cop, his rants and sporadic mannerisms being an absolute blast to watch.The story is straightforward and sets us up for intense thrills and action. The subplot between the bike cop and Levitt is also great and adds to the humor of the film.The camera-work is fantastic. It's clear, focused and smooth, making the bike chases visceral, intense and fun. It's a vibrant, pretty film, with great shots and framing. The editing and pacing is great, the momentum of the film never really slowing down. It moves along and keeps us on the edge of our seats.The soundtrack is good, serviceable to its scenes, and the sound design is done well.The visuals of this movie were really good, especially when time slowed down and Levitt planned the possible routes he could take through traffic, resulting in some spectacular fails.Overall, I really dug Premium Rush. I had a great time with it. Michael Shannon was great to watch and the movie had this thrilling momentum to it that kept it all snappy and focused. It goes by quickly and is worth the time. 7.5/10 damn good.

jimbo-53-186511 Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of the best bicycle couriers in Manhattan, but when he is tasked with delivering a seemingly harmless envelope this ends up having far reaching repercussions for Wilee when corrupt cop Bobby Monday (Michael Shannon) becomes hell-bent on getting his hands on what is inside this envelope and begins pursuing Wilee all across New York...As a screenwriter David Koepp is fairly accomplished - he has penned screenplays to a lot of good films such as Panic Room, Spider-man, Mission Impossible, Jurassic Park and Carlito's Way. In this respect, Premium Rush does still work (even if it's not as good as some of the better films that Koepp has been responsible for when he merely served as a screenwriter).Perhaps part of the problem with this film with Koepp as far as being a director is his rather limited and repetitive approach to the way everything is presented; the quick editing and Wilee's ability to assess the safest route through NYC's traffic at the blink of an eye are astonishing to look at but in the long run look a bit gimmicky and over-the-top and not to mention implausible and totally ridiculous. Although Koepp keeps his foot on the gas for the most part, the first 20 minutes or so of this picture are quite dull - Wilee has an awkward relationship with his girlfriend and some other guy is trying to muscle in and steal Wilee's girlfriend away from him - really? Who the hell cares? Thankfully, this uninteresting love triangle only proved to be a minor irritant as it only served as a problem in the early stages of the film - Koepp has it banded around here and there in the latter stages of the film, but due to the frantic pace later in the film it does serve as much of a problem later in the film.As a storyteller, Koepp is quite good and in all honesty Premium Rush isn't a bad story once you get down to the nitty gritty and on the surface it does have some heart to it. Having said that though, at its core it is about a mother trafficking her son illegally from the China to the USA and although in one way it's heart-warming on the other hand it's also illegal which makes it a morally queasy and controversial foundation upon which to set one's story.Having said that if you just go with the flow with this one and take it for what it is then it is reasonably entertaining (despite some ridiculous contrivances at the end such as Bob Monday agreeing to let Wilee have his bike back before he's confirmed that he actually has the ticket which effectively leads to his inevitable escape). It's a good film as long as you don't think about it too much...

Leofwine_draca PREMIUM RUSH is a very silly Hollywood action thriller with a difference: all of the action involves a bicycle courier in New York finding himself chased by a corrupt cop. The film is very odd in tone, feeling like a kid's film throughout with goofy humour and stylistics, and yet featuring a torrent of bad language that automatically raises the rating.The nice-but-bland Joseph Gordon-Levitt takes the lead role, an innocent who just so happens to be a whiz on wheels. The surprisingly dire Michael Shannon is the villain of the piece; I love this guy in most of his stuff, such as BOARDWALK EMPIRE, but he's embarrassingly hammy here, trying really hard to be quirky and funny but never succeeding. Dania Ramirez is the token pretty girl along for the ride.The film's action scenes are watchable and fast-paced, but blighted by CGI effects which are embarrassingly bad in places; you'll think you're watching an Asylum movie. The plot has no place in the real world so a massive suspension of disbelief is required. The end result is a missed opportunity, although not without wasted potential.