Review of Premium Rush (2012) by Alberto G — 27 Feb 2013

Premium Rush is about as straightforward as they come, with more than its fair share of stupid moments, but it uses that as an excuse to stage elaborate bicycle chases. Simply put, it knows what its faults are and attempts to take advantage of them. Now whether it is ultimately successful is up for debate, but I think we can all agree based on the starting premise things could have been a lot worse.

I'm mostly a David Koepp fan, even though he has had quite a few misses over the course of his career, and he wisely keeps things short and in constant motion, leaving little time to dwell on how uncreative the dialogue is or ridiculous the story gets. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is far from his best but still good enough for something like this, while Michael Shannon takes a poorly constructed character and makes him quite fun. From what I've heard, being an NYC bike messenger is a deplorable profession, so it's little surprise none of the characters are inherently good-natured or likeable and leave a mess of collateral damage in their wake. What is a surprise is that Premium Rush isn't a complete train wreck.