Premium Rush

Premium Rush is about bike messengers in New York City. Joseph Gordon-Leavitt plays a risk taking cyclist who is given a package to deliver across town. He soon finds out that someone is after the contents of his package and is trying to get it from him before he can make the delivery.

I've liked Gordon-Leavitt in every movie I've seen him in so far. I just wish he would loose the hyphenated long name. Maybe he just likes sounding like John Cougar Mellancamp or Jakie Joyner Kersey. Michael Shannon does a good job of playing an annoying bad guy who is easy to dislike.

I got a kick out of how this movie tried to make bikers look so dang hip and cool. Many of them had extreme hair styles and clothes and they all had major attitude. I'm sure most bike messengers don't fit the general stereotypes of cocky, traffic law breaking, risk taking athletes that were portrayed in this film, but it was still fun to watch. This movie may have had some cool characters in it, but none are were cool as the original "Speedy Delivery" Mr. McFeely.

Premium Rush does have some detractions. I liked the flashbacks which explained the story line better as the movie progressed, but I didn't care for how they showed the main character's super human ability to make split second driving decisions. After they showed his ability to redirect his driving course and work out multiple angles and options in the blink of an eye, it got kind of old. The escape scene where he steals a BMX bike and escapes from the police was also pushing it, but I'm sure they were just looking for an excuse to let a stunt double to show off his X games skills. There is also quite a bit of swearing in this movie.

Overall, I give Premium Rush 7.0 stars. It made me want to get a bike.