Star Rating:

Premium Rush

Actors: Jamie Chung, Michael Shannon

Release Date: Monday 30th November -0001

Genre(s): Action, Drama

Running time: TBC TBC minutes

Will Premium Rush herald a Hollywood fascination with 'bike movies' as Point Break did with skydiving movies (Drop Zone, Terminal Velocity) in the early nineties? Let's hope so. Although Premium Rush boasts fun chase sequences, David Koepp's actioner isn't interested in the characters that whizz about the city at breakneck speed, risking life and limb in a job that offers the rush above money, and this surface-only approach kills any audience involvement at the exact moment when we're supposed to.

Wilee (Gordon-Levitt) is the best at what he does; give him a package and tell him it has to be there by a certain time and he'll do it. Where he isn't successful is his personal life, as his relationship with fellow courier Vanessa (Ramirez) is on the skids because she wants him to use the brains he was given and not just waste his time riding a bike with no brakes. Today, Wilee is going to have to give that some thought as he's chased all over New York by Michael Shannon's weirdo who for some reason doesn't want him to deliver his latest package.

Okay, the better-than-Bourne-Legacy chase sequences are entertaining, leaving you thinking 'how the hell did they shoot this?' It's no mean feat to pull this off in what is bona fide NYC traffic. And how Gordon-Levitt weaves his way through rush hour traffic in see-it-before-it-happens Sherlock Holmes style is a lot of fun, giving us moments of horror and delight with crashes galore. Premium Rush is always moving, there's always something happening. Playing out in real time, the perpetual motion isn't halted by the necessary flashbacks (answering the whys and wherefores that crop up) that have enough going themselves.

That's all good and well. Premium Rush's problem is the bad guy. Shannon is a terrific actor and perfect to play a creepy bad guy - have him just stand there and he would look intimidating - but Koepp and John Kamps' (Ghost Town) script strips away all the creepiness with every line they give him: what bad guy pleads, 'Awww, come on!'? Plus, Shannon makes the worst effort to chase Gordon-Levitt down when he's standing merely feet away from him. Twice. He is a cartoon bad guy, which undermines the threat to Gordon-Levitt and therefore the drama. Maybe there's a hint in the cartoonish vibe in Gordon-Levitt's name - Wilee, as in Wile. E Coyote - but this tone is lumped on Shannon only.

It's not just bad guy problems either. The plot gets terribly convenient as it goes on; at one point a cop reckons Gordon-Levitt is close by because he hears a car horn? In NYC? At rush hour? Awww, come on! Then the fun formerly fun action sequences descend into BMX Bandits meets Dukes Of Hazzard absurdity with conveniently-placed planks leaning against crates and across alleys.

It's such a shame that the story doesn't match the chases.