Review: Premium Rush

Directed by David Koep

Written by David Koep and John Kamps

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Wilee), Dania Ramirez (Vanessa), Jamie Chung (Nima), and Michael Shannon (Bobby Monday)

Cinematography by Mitchell Amundsen

Edited by Derek Ambrosi and Jill Savitt

On the surface, Premium Rush sounds like it should be fun time. Hardcore bike couriers, corrupt cops, a twisty crime saga. Unfortunately, there are multiple ways to craft the same story, and David Koep chooses the least engaging way to tell this one. It's a relatively serious action movie, with a little bit of (half-hearted) humor thrown in. What makes this outcome doubly frustrating is that there is a good film buried somewhere in Premium Rush. Part of the problem is that it tries to be multiple movies at once. The fun parts are the ones that tease at a Hot Fuzz-esque parody of extreme sports flicks. The moments that best represent this trend are the scenes of Wilee's "accident vision" where time slows down, he pictures the multiple paths he can take while riding his bicycle through New York City, and predicts that possible pileups that await him.

But the heightened, cartoonish tone is not maintained outside of those sequences. As a result, Gordon-Levitt's character absolutely tanks. If a more a satirical, over-the-top attitude had been consistently applied throughout the entirety of the film, Wilee's demeanor would have been a bit easier to take. As is, he comes off as an absolute douchebag. He rides a fixed-gear bike with no brakes, knowing that it will put pedestrians and motorists in more danger, just to get an adrenaline fix. It's extremely rare in my movie watching that I care more for random passersby's than the main character, but that's how I felt during Rush. I winced every time someone almost got hit or run into due to Wilee's stupid, entirely unnecessary antics, a reaction I can't say I experienced towards Wilee himself. That bike couriers' are presented as having an authentic, serious hardass culture that somehow places them above everyone else, only makes matters worse.

This points to another issue, because a singular tone is not kept up, the style and story ends up waffling and becomes unsatisfying. Neither the comedic nor dramatics beats hit correctly as a result, and the main plot is damaged badly by the inconsistency. A friend of Wilee's and Vanessa's (Nima) contracts their bike service to deliver a package to Chinatown. Eventually it is revealed that the parcel contains an immigration pass that Nima has worked extremely hard for in order to bring her child to America from an undefined Asian country. The plot line feels more befitting of a middlebrow/Oscar-bait picture. Alongside the comedic and action elements, it appears entirely shoe-horned in. Like the creators realized they didn't have much going on up on the screen, and tried to awkwardly fit in a sincere story in order to cynically manipulate a little pathos out of the audience. Same goes for Shannon's dick cop character, Bobby Monday. He should be a delicious, hammy villain, but Shannon doesn't quite go far enough for his portrayal to be memorable. Finally, like Nima's arc, Monday's fate is a little too gruesome for the rest of the picture, and causes everything to end on an unpleasant note.

Certain moments of Premium Rush make for an enjoyable, entertaining viewing experience. However, they are dragged down by a mistaken approach and the poor-fit of the dominant narrative.