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| Edited By: Daniel Pinto |Source: DNA |Updated: Nov 21, 2013, 01:44 PM IST
Film: Premium Rush (A)
Director: David Koepp
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Shannon, Aaron Tveit, Dania Ramirez
Rating: **1/2
Why must some extreme adventure films be always set among some over-glamourised, dubious subculture? While Point Break dealt with surfers, Premium Rush is centred on the dangerous lives of unstoppable, uh, bike delivery guys. (Real hardcore, bro!)
Our hero Wilee (Gordon-Levitt) allegedly has a death wish; he rides a bike with no brakes. Embroiled in a boring mystery, involving a letter he is carrying for the roommate of his ex-girlfriend and co-rider Vanessa (Ramirez), he is ruthlessly hounded by a manic NYPD detective Bobby Monday (Shannon), whose failure to seize the letter could result in the loss of his life. Illegal transfers of money, the Chinese mafia and other factors are at play. Blah, blah, blah, who cares?
Shannon, playing a deranged person once again (he even mentions the psychological term to clear all doubts), is the best thing about the film. Watching him play the loose cannon, the compulsive gambler who is consistently thwarted by a mere bike messenger, is fun.
Gordon-Levitt is difficult to identify with as his character is as nonchalant as a monk contemplating his coolness even when he is considering the least harmful course through moving traffic (no, he won't halt his bike). But for all his Zen control, he is no patch on Patrick Swayze's Bodhi. His character keeps hitting one note, writing off the corporate life and all that comes with it. Ramirez, playing his former lover who is cozying up to his rival Manny, is annoying with her plastic chest dominating every scene.
Koepp should have pulled the brakes on this film and stuck to his lucrative screenwriting job. The film, though in constant motion, is unremarkable. It condones smugness and bike hooliganism and disregard for bystanders. For its original premise, the film reeks of the familiar and rarely has you at the edge of your seat. You can zoom past this not-so-captivating film.
