Netflix Mail Day Movie Review: "Premium Rush" (2012)

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Movie: "Premium Rush"
Director: David Koepp
Year: 2012
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a bike messenger who delivers packages with the utmost care and security. Once a package leaves the customer's hands and is put into his bag, he does not touch it again until he reaches his drop-off point. He picks up a letter from his girlfriend Vanessa's (Dania Ramirez) roommate Nima (Jamie Chung), who says the letter is extremely important and must be delivered to the recipient ONLY. On his way out of the university where he picked up the letter, he is accosted by Bobby Monday (Michael Shannon), who is a crooked cop in need of cash to settle gambling debts. Wilee has to risk his safety and possibly his life in order to deliver Nima's letter safely.

First of all, there's nothing wrong with the acting in this movie. It was fine, except that Michael Shannon is a bumbler in general and it's extremely distracting...he always seems to play the same types of character, too, and it gets repetitive. Obviously, this movie is not Gordon-Levitt's finest work, but he does alright with what he's given.

We guess it's unique perspective on a "chase" type of film, but this time it involves bike riders/couriers. It's basically "Getaway," except it's involving street bikes, and not as crappy, plus Aasif Mandvi. It's almost an excuse to shove biking stunts down our throats, and to show that bikes are somehow infinitely better than cars, and to show how bikes can even beat cars in intense chases, and POOF! You've got a movie! In fact, it reminds of us the BMX chase scene in "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," just dragged out into a 91 minute feature film.

The problem with this movie is that it's executed poorly. It focuses on the split-second decisions of the bike messengers to avoid getting hit by cars, to avoid hitting strollers full of babies, and it seems that most of the danger comes from lower Manhattan traffic as opposed to the villain of the story. It's only 91 minutes long but seems to drag and doesn't really go much of anywhere for a movie that travels all over Manhattan!!

Obviously, this movie had major funding from Chase Bank because there are about 1,000 Chase Banks throughout the course of 91 minutes. Also, BING. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, STOP WITH THE BING.

My Rating: 4/10
BigJ's Rating: 5/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 76%
Do we recommend this movie: I say no, BigJ says meh.