How long can one watch bicycles chasing themselves through
honking, downtown Manhattan traffic before one taps out? Well, the results of a
recent case study with a sample size of one (me), indicate that its some time
less than 85 minutes… or the run time of the alleged chase-action thriller Premium Rush. Indeed, Rush plays more like a high-end, but
annoying version of Frogger (you
young people may have to look that up) than a serious thriller or even a
tongue-in-cheek romp. I’m not quite sure what the makers (David Koepp directing) were shooting for but
the film hits no good target firmly.
A “Premium Rush” order is the most deluxe and expensive,
double-time bicycle delivery service… if your paying for the “Rush” it means
you need to get something across town fast-fast. And if you need it fast, then
Wilee (like the coyote – played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is your man. For
Wilee, being a bike courier is a life style, not just a job. He’s a law-school
grad but can’t trade in the bike shorts for the office grind. He’s considered
crazy by his crazy colleagues, rides gearless and brakeless, and is, of course,
the best in the city.
The film’s silliness starts when Wilee picks up a
package from an old law school lady chum. Turns out that the innocent-looking
envelope contains a valuable ticket desired greatly by a gambling-addicted and
hopelessly in debt cop… and thus the chase begins. Backdropping the scene is a
romantic triangle with a glistening female cyclist (Dania Ramirez),
Wilee’s bike-courier rival Manny (Wole Parks), and Wilee
as the lead. Joined for worse and better with this group, Wilee must outrun the
evil cop and work out the mystery of the ticket, all while navigating through
the perilous streets of Manhattan on his fast bike with others in hot pursuit.
Gordon-Levitt certainly looks the part here and
reportedly did much of his own riding – which looks good. But the bike heads
slowly down slope from there. Nobody from the buddy-romance triad seems capable
of carrying his or her load with any believability. Gordon-Levitt’s interchanges
with Ramirez trend from stiff to awkward (unintentionally). And Ramirez,
although looking tough and good in the bike gear, will not be receiving any
awards for her acting. More entertaining is Michael Shannon’s play of bad
Detective Monday. Regardless of any confusion from the director on where he wanted this
film to go, Shannon obviously chose cartoonish for his take on Wilee’s nemesis
and he plays it to the hilt. I expected to see Detective Gordon’s eyes bug out
of his head on springs and for him to shout “why I oughta…!” each time Wilee slipped
from his clutches. Shannon, who has been memorizing in previous efforts like Take Shelter, applies the wacky approach
right to the bitter end of the flick and is easily the best component of the
film.
Rush employs
several gimmicks to try to style up the action. Wilee’s routes to complete his
gauntlet are periodically displayed like a Tom-Tom car GPS or a “Real Speed”
video-game map help. A digital countdown display lets us know that the
intensity of it all should be ramping up. Wilee also has Robert Downey Jr.’s
Sherlock Holmes-like perception skills allowing him to estimate the future and
optimize his route. How does he do this…? Oh yeah, that’s right, he went
to law school so he’s really smart and can speed up his brain time (a la Limitless) to cycle though three or four
scenarios before selecting the only one that will get him successfully through
to the next level… errrrr, to his delivery target. I was never worried about
Wilee failing as I felt like I could reach out and hit the reset button on the
Wi if any fatal crashes occurred.
The action, repeated over an over again with only
slight variation and always amid the din of the traffic setting, in Rush gets a bit fatiguing near the end.
And the motivation for it all – the ticket, the delivery, the chase etc. is
weak and by the end all but moot. Although I’m sure that many will find this
film, and its multitude of pop ups, to be a refreshing take on the chase genre; for me, this time, different does not equal good. Rush gets 4 out of 10.
