Premium Rush: The Bike Messenger as Action Hero?
The new thriller Premium Rush isn’t a great movie, and its story has more than a few bumps, but it has one thing going for it: It’s a charged-up, full-on, Red-Bull-chugging sample of what life is like for a New York City bike messenger. These are the fearless souls who make FedEx look like the Pony Express.
The messenger is played by one of today’s more capable young actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (a favorite director Christopher Nolan featured in Inception and The Dark Knight Rises). Gordon-Levitt, who prepared for the role so extensively he crashed into a cab and gashed his arm (an accident referred to in a blooper clip after the credits roll) races through the movie as Wilee (named for Wile E. Coyote), a pumped-up Ivy Leaguer who could have been a lawyer but chose the life of adrenaline junkie instead. He’s got girl problems (sexy Vanessa, played by Dania Ramirez, is also pursued by fellow messenger Manny, played by Wolé Parks), he’s got occupational problems (the best parts of Premium Rush are when he’s mentally mapping out a path through the labyrinth of cars, trucks, buses, and pedestrians), and now he’s got a problem with an extra-special package.
The package (really just an envelope) has to be taken from Columbia University’s campus to some questionable characters in Chinatown within an hour and a half, but after picking it up, Wilee finds himself menaced by a guy (Michael Shannon) who claims he’s the head of campus security and demands to be given the envelope. It turns out Shannon’s character is really a cop, Bobby Monday, who owes some Chinatown underworld thugs a lot of money in gambling debts. And the envelope Wilee carries? It’s a kind of deposit slip for an underground Chinese bank with a value of $50,000.
isn’t this just “quicksilver” redone? (and probably poorly at that)
just what we need here in california are more hot-headed overly self-entitled bicyclers inspired by this flick
You’re referring to the Kevin Bacon movie, right?
I find movies based on obscure sub-groups and genres to be usually pathetic, especially when it involves riding a bicycle.
I didn’t realize there were still bike messengers about. How Stone Age is that?
This looks like it is going to be a horrible movie.
http://uselections2012blog.blogspot.ca/
I saw the commercial trailer for this and noted that I will not occupy any of my life wasting time to see it. My comment-to-self was, “Great, a movie whose sole purpose is to give otherwise unemployable trick bicycle riders a brief moment of glory and fame.” In other words, useless. Very narrow in the selected audience (skateboarders and trick bike punks), narrower in plot, a few grand spend on writers, nah.
Now…if it was Batmanon a bicycle…
Wait. No. Never mind. Bad idea. Sorry.
As a bike rider myself (old Giant ATX) I do average 20 miles a day on a bike for exercise, most folks in vehicles with more than two wheels look at me like I am from mars, never seen a bike before you would think. Now the kids these days will go to the movie and then rush out alright but not to buy bikes, Nope they will buy video games that depict a first person view of riding a bike in a virtual 3D format. Obese, lazy or just scared they won’t touch a bike unless it’s posing with one. To top it all off, riding a bicycle hurts, is either hot or cold and makes you thirsty then you get all sweaty. Kids will not rush out to become a bike messenger.
To really ride a bike you must adopt the doctrine of “Pain is weakness leaving the body” then get a rhythm going with the pedals.
Motorcycleist are the friendliest people I meet, profound in’nit.
In my case the pain is last week’s pizza leaving the body as I creak up those hills.
Bicycling gets multiple muscles and is great exercise.
HEP-T,
The movie that got me and my compadres out on our dirt bikes (mountain bikes were still not available at that time) was RAD..!
I don’t know HOW many hours we tried, overwhelmingly failing most of the time the tricks from the, ‘RAD’ movie.
Lastly, if we want to talk, ‘Action Heroes’ other than the masked crusaders, how ’bout Kenny F-’in Powers coming back, uh!
Woohoo!
Get your hair corn-rowed, 4-wheeled motorcycle tuned up and Oakley razor blade sunglasses polished for the man’s man back on the screen!
so will this make more bike riders do stupid things on bikes that will get them killed? Probably and then who will they blame??????
But I am having enough problems in my neighborhood with those on bicycles that don’t think any motor vehicle laws apply to them and have seen enough near misses and did witness a collision that could have been a disaster for the bicycle, riding on the wrong side of the street, going through a red light and hitting a vehicle hard enough to dent the vehicle and destroy the bicycle.
Was a joy to stop and be a witness for the driver of the car, and hoped that he would sue the bicyclist for the damage to his car,
Folks who like that movie should look into a bike movie called Line of Sight. The documentary is marvelous, and would absolutely suggest watching it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGlZrK9WYpo