Premium Rush

**
Release Date: August 24th 2012

In Manhattan, a bike messenger picks up an envelope that attracts the interest of a dirty cop, who pursues the cyclist throughout the city.

Director: David Koepp (Ghost Town, Secret Window, Stir of Echoes)

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dania Ramirez, Michael Shannon, Jamie Chung

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has definitely had a busy year with the release of both Dark Knight Rises and Looper, both smashing the box office. The advertising of Premium Rush was minimal, almost unnoticeable, although the budget was $35m. With such success from DKR and Looper, a third would have been an amazing outcome for JG-L, but this was not the case. Premium Rush is fun if you want to join the ride, but never goes any further than that.

JG-L is Wilee (like the Coyote), a bike messenger in Manhattan, New York. 'You can e-mail it, FedEx it, fax it, scan it, but when none of that shit works and this thing has to be at that place by this time, you need us', he says as he's making one of his deliveries. All hell breaks loose for him when an unknown man in a suit (Shannon), desperately needs the package in Wilee's hands.

The story doesn't get any more in depth than that. The camera flicks from Gordon-Levitt to Shannon and back, piecing fragments together with flashbacks of both the protagonist and antagonist.

When we are first introduced to Shannon's character, Bobby Monday, he sets off a powerful resonance that, with the deep and dark music setting the mood over the villian, he is not someone to be messing with. Five to ten minutes later, it's mockery from my behalf. He's a useless villian, talks gibberish a lot (listen out for his rant about the word 'douchebag') and makes weird noises. Monday cannot be taken seriously. Little is said about his character. All we know is he's got a problem, and the package will fix it.

There's little to say about Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He's on top form, but never gets to shine because of the mundane story. In fact, all acting is let down by a weak storyline.

 For an action/drama it lacks twists and raw action. A cop on a bike keeps pursing Wilee, but he should give up the ghost, because there was little to no point in chasing him in the first place. Some extras to PR like this are screen fillers; bulking out the film so it gets a decent running time.

There are some positives in Premium Rush, the most notable being Wilee's method of working out the best possible way to get through traffic when he's stuck in a tricky situation. We see him plan out the route, reenact it, and suffer either horrible injuries or hurts someone else in the process.

Overview: Had the potential to be so much better but was let down by a weak storyline.