Review of Premium Rush (2012) by Coco890 — 02 Oct 2012

This movie came as a huge surprise to me. Usually when a movie is moved from one dumping ground to another, that usually means the studio has no fate and the movie is most likely crap. About 97% of the time this is true so it's nice to see a movie like Premium Rush to just completely surprise you.

Crap this certainly isn't. Sure the story isn't anything new but when it's this well done it doesn't matter The only real thing that bothered me was Jamie Chang's fake accent. It was laughably bad and kind of took away from the film a bit.

Sometimes the film had a little trouble finding a consistent tone, but it didn't bother me much, it might bother some people though. Other than those things, everything else worked. As I just stated above, the story is nothing new but it doesn't matter when it's this well done.

I'm surprised that no one has ever thought of making a movie about bike messengers before. If they're made as well as this I'll gladly take more of these than movies like Fast and Furious(to be fair I actually liked the fifth one and I'm excited for the sixth one).

I never thought a movie about bike messengers could be just as exciting. By using bikes instead of cars, it makes this movie seem so fresh as your not subjected to the same routine car chases that you see in every action movie.

The story is told through mostly flashbacks over the course of four or five hours. It's not entirely original storytelling but who cares? It also does not ruin the nice brisk pace. There's never a few minutes between each action scene, I guess the best way to describe it would be like Joseph Gordon-Levitt's bike, it has no breaks so once you get on it and go you can't stop, that's what this movie is like.

Once the movie starts you are on a non stop adrenaline fuled ride. Sure the movie might pause for a little bit for character developing moments but it never detracts from.the pace. The style of this film is what also elevates this movie above most action films.

There are these cool sequences where Levitt's characters about to get into an accident so we see through multiple Windows what's the best possible route for him to take that will avoid him getting into the accident.

I've never seen something like this before. The movie is also well shot, there's no shaky cam, it's a nice smooth ride. We're treated to point of view shots, overhead shots, rear shots, and side shots which makes it all the more entertaining.

I personally like the point of view shots the best. The performances are solid across the board but the two who stick out are of course, Levitt and Michael Shannon. Levitt has the screen presence and Charisma which makes his performance all the more enjoyable.

Shannon has fun chewing up his lines, he is a badass and he knows it. Overall, the story exactly original and Jamie Chung's fake Asian accent is pretty. bad which kind of takes away from the movie a bit.

The strong direction, breezy pace, the style, and the performances definitely make up for those things. In today's world when a movie takes the same story that's been done before but manages to put it's own fresh twists on it, that's sufficient enough to set it apart from most movies today It's also certainly sufficient enough to warrant a recommendation.

I would also like to mention that this movie succeeded where a handful of movies failed, it actually delivered on it's promise.