Premium Rush (2012) - Film Review

Director: David Koepp

Cast: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Michael Shannon, Dani Ramirez, Sean Kennedy

MPAA Rating: Rated PG13 for some violence, intense action sequences and language

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                  I have to be honest, when I first saw the trailer for "Premium Rush' I thought it was a spoof film. A high octane bike thriller starring talented actors such as Joseph Gordon Levitt and Michael Shannon,  there was no way I could believe this was really being made as a film and then I saw the release date and I was like no way someone actually made this film. To kick it off that is where my interest for this film went to, I wanted to see what made these actors actually come together and make this film that looked really bad from the get go and now I realize that there was nothing good about this movie and felt like an easy cash in for everyone involved.
                                   With a concept such as this you have to expect the story to get a little absurd as I believe the film was basically just suppose to be a fun hour and a half at the movies, but the main problem this film had was that it took itself way too serious. It seemed like Director David Koepp didn't know what type of film he was making as he too often tried to shift the tone of the movie between action.thriller and action.comedy as it is impossible to take a film serious when the director of the film can't even take it serious.
                                     The beginning of the film started off well enough when we see Joseph Gordon Levitt explaining the whole concept of what he does as a bike messenger and he shows how he is the best in his profession and you really believe it then the film hits the 10 minute mark and the first line of dialogue begins. The dialogue in the film was completely ridiculous and came off choppy and unrealistic. When banter between the characters would happen, you'd just have to laugh sometimes because as I stated before; the film is taking itself completely serious in this department. Every character in this film is playing a stereotype from Joseph Gordon Levitt's character being a college law student who needed the adrenaline rush instead of taking the bar all the way to his overly concerned on-again-off-again girlfriend played by Dania Ramirez. None of these characters were given qualities or characteristics outside their stereotype and made it even harder to care about these characters when we were suppose to.
                                         One concept of the film I did enjoy was David Koepp's directing. Their were some impressive visuals done in the directing. The chase scenes that were done on bikes were actually really good and for the most part I actually didn't have a problem with them. David Koepp also created this little story device with Google Map that showed where the characters were at all times and I believe that was a good realistic showing of where the characters were.
                                         From the story on the main draw of the film was suppose to be Joseph Gordon Levitt. Joseph Gordon Levitt has become one of the more recent hot commodities in Hollywood as with roles in "The Dark Knight Rises" to the upcoming "Looper" film, everyone is interested in what this guy is doing and they made sure you knew he was in this film as well. His performance in this film, while nothing incredible was by far the best acting performance in this film. While Joseph Gordon Levitt tried to give his stereotypical archetypal character life, every other actor in the film including Michael Shannon who played the main villain in the film was played over-the-top and came off more and more ridiculous as the film went on. One person I would like to specifically call out is Dania Ramirez who played Joseph Gordon Levitt's girlfriend in the film and just how bad she really was. Her character was given all these subplots that in the end were pointless and tried to add depth to a character that had nothing.
                                               The main thing that stopped me from hating "Premium Rush" was that I had no expectation in this film whatsoever and in the end that might have been for the best. The film offered up a decent time with some great visuals and action scenes bolstered by a decent performance by JGL but in the end a film needs a whole lot more than that to succeed today and the film faltered when it got to the story of the film, acting, and just the absurdness of the plot. In the end "Premium Rush" is a movie and I believe you should just avoid at all costs because even when it comes out for rental it's still not worth the dollar to rent it from red box.

 

 

 

Final Grade:  C-