Nerd Movie Reviews

Premium Rush Review

Worth watching, but not worth rushing out to see.

Before I get into this review I want to make one thing absolutely clear: I, like any sane, rational human who lives in an urban are infested by hipsters, have a burning hatred of fixies that goes far beyond the pale.  I actually like bikes and bicyclists and have one of my own (collecting dust with a flat, but at least I own one).  I have always enjoyed watching BMX and trial bikes.  However, I have found fixie riders to be to hipsters what hipster are to non D-bag people.  (Portlandia image courtesy of the TV Show T Shirt category)

I mention this because the main character in this story is a fixie bike messenger, and I want to distance myself from his inclinations before I admit I actually like his character a lot (in spite of his very wrong mechanical affinity).  I enjoyed this movie quite a bit.  The action, while less inclined to follow the more traditional action hero formula, was exciting.  The bike stunts and scenes were extremely well done and well shot.  The main character Wiley (Joseph Gordon-Levitt-50/50, Inception, the Dark Knight Rises) was interesting, fun, and well portrayed.  The supporting girls were reasonably good and both pretty hot (especially Jamie Chung (the Hangover Part 2, Sucker Punch, Grown Ups) who gets my vote as the hottest Asian alive right now).  Most importantly the story made sense and didn’t have any massive plot holes or lack of motivation to bug the hell out of me.  Everyone had a reason for doing what they were doing and at no point did it really stretch those motivation beyond what seemed reasonable.

All that being said, the film definitely had its issues.  The story, while believable, was delivered in the most clunky and awkward manner possible.  Flashbacks done well can be cool, but flashbacks done badly (especially done with a clock showing where you are Vantage Point style) feels like you cut your movie into 10 minute chunks and shot them out of a shotgun at a wall.  Most of the characters besides Wiley were tertiary and insubstantial, and the villain (Michael Shannon-Vanilla Sky, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys II) shifted gears radically from comedy relief to terrifying rage monster back and forth so often you find yourself wondering if his role was originally supposed to be two characters.  The dialog was not great either, and I’m pretty sure they lifted a big part of the ending from the book Snow Crash.

The story.  Honestly watch any “everyone wants the message kill the messenger” movie like the Transporter and you will have it.  This one does not get props for originality.  Wiley is a bike messenger in the Big Apple who rides a fixie and refuses to have a brake on his bike.  He graduated from Columbia Law but has yet to take the bar mainly due to his love of riding.  His last run of the day gets lifted by his biggest competitor (Wolé Parks-Taking Chance, As the World Turns, Undressed) who is also after his girlfriend (Dania Ramirez-X Men First Class, American Reunion, 25th Hour).  He gets a last minute delivery from someone who turns out to be the roommate of his girlfriend Tita (Jamie Chung).  Of course the delivery is very valuable and some Chinese gangsters recruit corrupt NYPD detective Monday (Michael Shannon) to track it down.  At that point it is a chase movie.  Wiley gets does the smart thing and goes to the police first and then tries to bail on the delivery only to be convinced of the morality of making it happen.  Bikes get raced.  Messengers get hit by cars (no spoiler there.  You see it in the first 2 minutes).

The stars.  Story made convoluted sense and didn’t bug me.  Two stars.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt was quite good.  One star.  The bike chase and stunt scenes were very well done and hand me totally engaged.  Two stars.  Jamie Chung should be in every movie made ever.  One star.  Michael Shannon in his comedy avatar was fun and engaging.  One star.  Overall a fun movie.  One star.  Total: eight stars.

The black holes.  The disjointed story telling really tended to pull the audience out of the theater.  One black hole.  Most of the supporting characters didn’t add a lot of depth to the film.  One black hole.  The whole film was fairly derivative, and the ending both borrowed and out of place.  One black hole.  The Michal Shannon violent sociopath avatar felt really out of character.  One black hole.  Total: four black holes.

A grand total of four stars.  Not bad at all.  Worth seeing, and worth seeing in a theater.  Date movie?  Sure, why not?  The action is good without being really gun or fist violence, there is a romance, and some family value stuff.  Just know that between Joseph and Wolé you have two hot guys with avid bicyclist bodies on the screen, so expect to suffer a little in comparison.  Bathroom break?  The convoluted nature of this story deliver means missing the wrong moment can leave you lost when you get back.  I would say that when you see an old Asian woman in China with a little boy towards the last 1/3rd of the film you have about 1-2 minutes of dead time to make a run for it.  Not a lot happening in that scene you won’t have already figured out from earlier or will understand by the end of it.

Thanks for reading.  More movies coming out so I will try to see something tonight or tomorrow.  I am watching all the Star Trek episodes at home and once that is done will start up on TNG.  Since I have never watched that series in order or in it’s entirety I might start doing short recaps and impressions a few episodes per post.  Follow me on Twitter @NerdKungFu.  Post any comments on this movie or review here, and if you have any off topic questions or suggestions email me at [email protected].  Talk to you soon.

Dave

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