Getting Paid to Ride
Premium Rush is a high-octane thrill ride centering around bicycle messengers in New York City. These guys move fast, weave in between traffic, run red-lights, and seem to only stop moving for seconds at a time. One of these messengers is Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), whose name is entirely appropriate. Of all the bikers, who take on a very dangerous job for seemingly meager pay, Wilee is the biggest daredevil of them all. So much in fact he refuses to have brakes on his bike. He's a damn good bicyclist, as are many of the others; occasionally it begins to border on the impossible that more of these guys don't get hit and sent away in a body-bag (though the film is not without its share of injured bicyclists).
One fateful day, Wilee gets a delivery - "premium rush" it's called. It has to be delivered to its location by 7pm. The delivery is an envelope, given to him by an Asian (yes, the fact she is Asian is important to the plot) student named Nima. Minutes after receiving the envelope, Wilee is stopped by Bobby Monday (Michael Shannon) who requests that Wilee hand over the envelope. But that isn't something he's permitted to do, nature of the job and so forth - "once it's in the bag, it stays in the bag." Wilee takes off on his bike and Monday pursues him in a car - an unmarked police car. Monday is an NYPD officer, whose gambling debts have gotten him into trouble. This is why he needs that envelope.
Shannon, who gave one of last year's best performances in Take Shelter, generally plays quiet, brooding, withheld characters that have much boiling beneath their surface layers. Here, he steps out of that form, and while I won't hail it as any kind of amazing performance, he brings a nice presence to the screen and delivers some of the film's better laughs. After being beaten with a phonebook by an Oriental man because of his debts, his first response is, "is that a Chinese phonebook?" He then proceeds to beat the man, and later learns he killed him. His response to that is utterly hilarious in its comic timing and dead-pan tone: "He didn't even make it to the hospital," somebody tells him, "Hmm. I'll make amends" he replies.
It is subtly suggested at the beginning that Wilee went to law school, but never took the Bar exam. The idea of wearing a suit and tie "at his age" makes him cringe. "We get paid to ride," he tells his girlfriend, who is also a bike messenger. But it's hardly about the money for Wilee, which amounts to little considering the occupational hazards. The title "Premium Rush" has a multitude of meanings; the term for a delivery that must be very fast, the adrenaline of the film and story, and for Wilee, the rush of weaving in and out of traffic, strategically avoiding what are likely deadly situations. Wilee admits he's afraid of dying, but "that's the fun of it."
The story trips back and forth in time, expertly weaving the multitude of stories and various characters such that we are given only as much information as we absolutely need at that particular time. What is in the envelope? Why is it so important? This isn't answered immediately, but only when it should be. Information is withheld, and then revealed, so that more layers of depth begin to reveal themselves. Seemingly irrelevant characters return and we understand their involvement, though there is one extraneous character that the film could do without: an NYPD bicycle officer who occasionally chases Wilee. His involvement is ultimately pointless.
There is a standard formula at work here. It's clear from the trailers this is a chase story, and that it is. A chase story that rarely slows down, much like its protagonist. Boy, Wilee must be in good physical shape. But there's also much at work here that goes deeper than any shopworn chase story formula would suggest. The structure and time-tripping elevates the material; the adrenaline of the film is palpable, and keeps the film moving at a brisk pace. The acting is serviceable to the material, but don't expect anything brilliant in that arena. The direction and stunts are exceptionally done. The end feels shoddy, I will say. No spoilers, but let's just say I don't understand why Nima needed to pay a messenger to deliver this envelope. Though I did enjoy the fate of antagonist Monday; I'm not sure I've seen something like that as simple and borderline humorous.
If you're looking for profundity or some kind of grandiose statement about the human condition, this is one of the last films I'd recommend to you. But if you're looking for moderately mindless, thrilling entertainment, this is the film. And it is just that - entertainment. Sometimes I want to watch films that are "deep" and "meaningful," like The Master. Sometimes I just want to sit back and be entertained, like Premium Rush. This a much better film than I expected based on the previews. My first thought about the concept: "how the Hell will they maintain my interest for a feature-length running time?" I now know how the Hell.
No comments:
Post a Comment