Gary
Oldham in Leon the Professional. Eric Roberts in The Pope of Greenwich Village. Al Pacino in Heat and The Devil’s Advocate. Vincent D’Onofrio and Nicholas Cage in just about everything they do. When it comes to
unapologetic scenery-chewing, there are few who can match these actors for
their glorious embrace of overindulgence. Michael Shannon can now officially be
added to that list.
Playing a
dirty cop with little impulse control (a trait he gleefully announces), the
tall and gangly actor smirks and giggles and menaces his way through Premium
Rush with maniacal aplomb. It’s the kind of nervy, unhinged performance
that makes you wonder exactly what movie the actor thought he was in.
Which
isn’t to say that it works against writer-director David Koepp’s bike-bound
thriller. Shannon is clearly meant to be a desperate and dangerous man, and his
whacked-out approach heightens this fast-paced movie’s threat level. In fact, Premium
Rush is a textbook lesson in lean, mean, popcorn moviemaking.
Wilee
(Joseph Gordon Levitt), a fearless Manhattan bike messenger, picks up an
envelope and has 90 minutes to deliver it (the running time of the movie).
Unfortunately, Shannon’s corrupt detective wants what’s in the envelope and is
willing to do whatever he has to get it. This sets off a life or death rush
hour chase through the city, where traffic, a rival messenger, an angry
girlfriend, and a determined bike cop become either allies or obstacles.
Deftly, Koepp bounces back and forth in time to fill in the motivations all the
characters and their particular interest in the envelope, raising the stakes
for everyone as he maintains the movie’s breakneck pace.
The bike
messenger genre is pretty small, but it’s safe to say that Premium Rush is the best of the breed. Koepp (Ghost Town, Stir of Echoes) keeps a
firm grasp on his movie’s modest goals, delivering a ticking clock, a
believable plot, a likable if vaguely sketched hero, an empathetic goal and
lots and lots of action.
Using real
bike messengers as stunt doubles, the movie is a fast, fun and furious as it
dodges and weaves through New York City’s colorful and crowded streetscapes.
Over the years, Koepp has become a skilled director, and his chase sequences
are exciting, inventive and easy to follow. His showiest conceit —
bike-o-vision — presents the probable outcomes of Levitt’s split-second
decisions. Car doors catastrophically open at the last second, baby strollers
roll into his path, hapless pedestrians end up struck by swerving trucks — as
our hero calculates his best route for escape. It’s a clever and amusing take
on Guy Ritchie’s visualization of thought processes in Sherlock Holmes.
Even in
the dog days of summer, there are plenty of brainless action flicks at the
multiplex. Unfortunately, most are noisier than they are entertaining, relying
on expensive digital effects and chaotic gun battles to pass the time. Premium
Rush is neither bombastic nor pretentious. It earns its hour-and-a-half of
thrills honestly, with good, solid storytelling and filmmaking. It’s amazing
how rare that is these days.
This article appears in Aug 22-28, 2012.