Premium Rush (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

Writers:

David Koepp, John Kamps

Stars:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Shannon, Dania Ramirez

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Wilee
Dania Ramirez	...	Vanessa
Sean Kennedy	...	Marco
Kym Perfetto	...	Polo (as Kymberly Perfetto)
Anthony Chisholm	...	Tito
Ashley Austin Morris	...	Receptionist
Wolé Parks	...	Manny
Kevin Bolger	...	Squid
Aasif Mandvi	...	Raj
Lauren Ashley Carter	...	Phoebe
Charles Borland	...	Campus Guard
Michael Shannon	...	Bobby Monday
Aaron Tveit	...	Kyle (Student)
Jamie Chung	...	Nima
Christopher Place	...	Bike Cop

Storyline

Wilee is one of 1,500 bike couriers in Manhattan who rides on the edge by having a bike with no brakes. On this day, Wilee has a delivery that is so valuable that a corrupt NYC Detective, who needs the money, begins to chase Wilee throughout the city to get it before the envelope is delivered.

---

Plot Keywords:

Delivery | Foreign Student | Chase | Police Station | Organized Crime | 

---

Taglines:

Ride Like Hell

---

Genres:

Action | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violence, intense action sequences and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

24 August 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Acil Teslimat

Filming Locations:

Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$6,300,000 (USA) (24 August 2012)

Gross:

$20,275,446 (USA) (19 October 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pariah

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although some of the scenes are filmed at Columbia University Law School, as stated in the movie, most of the interior and exterior scenes supposedly there are actually filmed in Columbia's student center Lerner Hall.

---

Goofs

(At 55:30) When Wilee and Manny are racing in the park and Wilee has to jump the stairs the shot where he makes the jump his handlebars turn into "riser" style, while in the rest of the movie they are "bullhorns"

---

Quotes

Wilee: Brakes are death.

---

Crazy Credits

In the credits, footage of the aftermath of an actual bike accident 'Joseph Gordon-Levitt' (qv) had on the streets of New York City during filming is shown, including Gordon-Levitt showing off his injury.

---

Connections

References Secret Window (2004)
The movie ticket stub that is in the envelope that is being delivered with the smiley face drawn on it has a fake movie called "Dark Windows" on it, which of course is a play on Writer/Director David Koepp's previous movie, "Secret Window", Starring Johnny Depp.

---

Soundtracks

"Baba O'Riley"
Written by Pete Townshend
Performed by The Who
Courtesy of Geffen Records and Polydor Records LTD. (U.K.)
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Another miss from David Koepp

¨I like to ride. Fixed gear. No brakes. Can't stop. Don't want to, either.¨

I'm not a big fan of director, David Koepp's work (Ghost Town, Secret Window), but I decided to give Premium Rush a chance considering Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Shannon were staring in this film. Gordon-Levitt has had a great year with some interesting roles in The Dark Knight Rises and Looper, but here he doesn't have a great script to work with. Michael Shannon on the other hand gave one of the best performances of 2011 in Take Shelter, a movie I really loved; but here I was really disappointed with his work. I didn't like the way he portrayed his character as a corrupt cop one bit. The film has a lot of action and interesting bike scenes, but it never feels like it is taking itself too seriously. I don't mind when film do this, but it wasn't very funny either so it didn't work in any level for me. I really was hoping Premium Rush would be a better movie, but Koepp has disappointed me once again. I give this film a 5 out of 10 because I thought some of the bicycle scenes were pretty exciting and Levitt still manages to be likable. If you haven't seen his other films this year then go see them instead of this one. I really can't recommend this film to anyone. I thought it was just another forgettable light action flick, which is too bad because the trailer did make it look interesting.

Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works as a bike messenger in the dangerous streets of Manhattan. He has a sort of no fear mentality and rides his bike without breaks, taking his job seriously. He will do what it takes to deliver his packages on time, even if it means he has to put his life (or others) in danger. What begins like an ordinary day for Wilee when he's asked to deliver a simple envelope ends up being a nightmare for him. A corrupt police detective named Bobby (Michael Shannon) wants to intercept the envelope before Wilee can make the delivery and thus follows him across the city. Wilee realizes that he's not holding an ordinary package and decides to return it to the sender before he gets into more trouble. The sender happens to be Nima (Jamie Chung), Vanessa's (Dania Ramirez) roommate, and Vanessa happens to be Wilee's girlfriend. When Nima tells him how important it is that the envelope be delivered on time Wilee realizes he has to help her, but the package has already been picked up by another bike messenger, Manny (Wole Parks). Thus the chase begins between Manny, Wilee, and Bobby across the heavily transited streets of NY.

The film has some fun action scenes as we see these experienced cyclists chasing each other across the city at high speeds, but the characters are really poorly developed and everything seems to be taken so lightly. The movie has some crazy editing going on as well as Wilee deliberates as to which direction he should take and we see the possible outcomes before he actually decides. Premium Rush is also narrated in non-linear fashion as we go back and forth in time to explain certain events. I'm not a big fan of chase scenes, and this film is one gigantic chase scene so that may be one of the reasons why I didn't enjoy this movie as much. Cyclists might enjoy this film, but I found the script a bit cheesy and everything really over the top (like Michael Shannon's performance). I couldn't recommend this film.

http://estebueno10.blogspot.com