Premium Rush

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

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Shannon, Dania Ramirez, Wole Parks

Directed by: David Koepp

For those of you reading that don't know who David Koepp is, let me fill you in. Becoming a screenwriter in Hollywood is hard. Sell a spec script and you get your name recognized and enough cash to live comfortably for years. Sell two big ones and you're on to something. When you've written and sold as much as David Koepp, you're very familiar to how the business works and you know quite a bit about making good films. He also directs too. He's written some really great films such as: Jurassic Park, Spider-Man, Carlito's Way, Ghost Town, Indiana Jones 4, and I guess you could throw Panic Room in there too. I was pretty hyped for this movie. So much so that I went to the theatres to see it.

Summary

Wilee is a bicycle messenger from the streets of Manhattan. He doesn't have breaks on his bike, he doesn't hesitate, he goes full speed, and is widely considered by his company the big man on campus. He's in a bit of a rut with his girlfriend Vanessa, and this guy Manny is kind of a jerk to him and wants to steal her. But, when Wilee is propositioned to deliver this one package, a man named Bobby Monday starts chasing him and he has no idea why - his problems just got a lot bigger. Being a messenger, you can't just give a package to any random stranger. This is the story of Wilee being chased by both Bobby and the NYPD for various reasons in hopes of turning this package in to its rightful recipients.

Review

This film had so much pace I barely even knew where the time went. It was such a fun and exciting ride I never once stopped to check how much time might be left. Things were always happening. Although some may call this formulaic screenwriting, I honestly believe what Koepp wrote here is almost close to perfect. I've read quite a few screenplays in my life and I've watched a countless amount of movies - this one definitely ranks among the top for exploiting every amazing factor a story should contain. Urgency, stakes, goals, well placed comedic relief, subplots, action/taking a minute to breathe, all perfectly paced.

The only criticism I could possibly place on this film was the lack of character depth. Wilee is a cyclist who chooses not to write his BAR exam. He is on the rocks with Vanessa. Vanessa isn't really explored but she loves Wilee still. Manny is just a jerk. Very simple, but I felt, honestly, that the pacing of the plot would have suffered if the characters were explored any more than they were. I felt like it was a good sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. Rarely ever do I bring up sacrificing character depth as positive reinforcement, but in this type of movie it's somewhat excusable. It's a chase movie with unique characters that we do care about even though we don't know them that well. If it was filmed any other way, I feel like it wouldn't have worked. 1h and 30mins is the perfect runtime for this film.

My rating may or may not be surprising due to the lack of attention this film is getting, but it's honestly how I felt and I'll stand by my decision wholeheartedly.

Topic of the Day

Adding a twist to urgency.

Normally when writers begin to brainstorm ideas on how to make their characters not float around on screen with all the time in the world to complete their goals, they start with the notion that their main character needs to complete their goal "or else". This is just something I've picked up in a lot of movies this summer. The Avengers need to find Loki and disarm his device that brings his army to Earth, Batman needs to disarm the bomb or else Gotham will be blown up. Premium Rush adds a twist on the subject because the urgency comes from the fact that Wilee is being chased. His goals are simple, and the stakes are constantly raising as he keeps discovering more and more about this package he's carrying, and the urgency is always there because Bobby and the NYPD are always right on his tail. If he stops to take a break, he's caught and the package doesn't get delivered which means he doesn't get paid.

It is important to note that too much urgency can exhaust the audience. This film takes breathers and raises the stakes by showing us the background behind the package. I really did feel like this was done perfectly. Jumping forward in time always leaves an audience with the notion of "well, what happened to the characters in the time we didn't see them?" and it's quite hard to invest in characters when you're without them for big chunks of their story. The story of this package is told through time reversal, so we never really miss anything in our character's stories; we actually end up learning more. The problem with time reversal is that taking step backs can frustrate the momentum of the story. However, this film is so action packed that taking a break in momentum isn't such a bad thing; it's actually kind of nice.

Consensus

Premium Rush was only released in limited theatres and was pretty acclaimed by the critics that did end up seeing it. I am taking a leap and will say that this is probably the most underrated movie of the summer, even though it's been received quite well. I enjoyed almost every single aspect of this film and I believe it gave me everything it could possibly offer. For the type of film it is, I truly believe it hasn't been talked about enough. This one won't be given the title of "classic" by many people, but I can honestly say I watched this without finding many flaws and it kept my full attention for its entirety - so it's very close to being on that type of scale in my books. 

8.9/10