"Premium Rush" Movie Review

"Premium Rush" movie poster.

"Among the bike couriers in New York City, no one is more determined and reckless than Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an ex-law student more comfortable on his brakeless bike than in a suit. One day, a Chinese foreign student named Nima (Jamie Chung) arranges for him to deliver a vital envelope across the city. Unfortunately, a crooked cop, Det. Robert Monday (Michael Shannon), has a desperate need for that envelope himself and won't take 'No' for an answer. Now, Wilee finds himself relentlessly pursued by Monday and others in a situation becoming more complicated and dangerous by the minute. Together with his friends and rivals, Wilee must discover the secret of this dangerous delivery and make it through a gauntlet that will require all his cunning, daring and courage to survive." Written by Kenneth Chisholm (Source below.)

Dania Ramirez.

Directed and written by David Koepp ("Angels & Demons", "Secret Window") and cowritten by John Kamps ("Ghost Town", "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie"). The movie stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("Inception", "Looper"), Michael Shannon ("Revolutionary Road", "Jonah Hex"), Dania Ramirez ("X-Men: The Last Stand", "The 25th Hour"), Jamie Chung ("Sucker Punch", "The Man With the Iron Fists"), Wole Parks ("As The World Turns", "Law & Order"), and Christopher Place ("My Soul to Take", "Step Up 3D").

When I saw advertisements for this movie a while ago, I was a bit skeptical. Like "how will that be even remotely realistic?", "why isn't Lance Armstrong in this movie?" or "will Joseph Gordon-Levitt take off his shirt since he seems to have built muscles for this role?" But I digress. 

Jamie Chung.

"Premium Rush" isn't your usual action movie. For example: a gun is only fired once, explosions involve a cyclist running into a trash can, and car accidents are more realistic - broken windows and fender benders. 

I liked the setting, New York City is an excellent place. I think they got the frenetic pacing of the city just right. It was very interesting how you saw everything from the biker's perspective, including the GPS navigational system, how they knew which way to go, and how they basically survive delivering other people's stuff for fifty dollars. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (L) and Michael Shannon.

It was also interesting that they brought these three massive groups of people together and you saw a possibility of what could happen. Those three groups being the police, the bikers, and the chinese underworld. This is a city teeming with people and these groups of people are still so tight-knit. 

This movie rocks, it is very exciting and the characters are fully formed. I still can't give it 5 out of 5, only because there was a very simple solution to the one character's problems. All she had to do was tell her roommate about the issue and they could've gone together and probably would've done it for free. And there was one other problem: the ending was a bit like a Disney film, but I did like seeing the bad guy get his. But still an excellent and short movie, if you're just looking for a fun night in.

I give this movie 4 out of 5 typewriters.

Sources: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1547234/.

Also, this official "training" featurette from the movie provided by ClevverMovies: