Premium Rush is a thriller set in Manhattan’s bike messenger subculture and is basically one 90-minute chase scene. It is cool to watch skilled outlaws bob in and out of NYC traffic, running red lights and just missing cabs, more cabs and the occasional baby carriage. But that’s all that Premium Rush has to offer.
Premium Rush does employ – and mostly waste – the talents of two of our greatest actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Shannon. Gordon-Levitt is just fine, and, Lord knows, he deserves a Hollywood payday after making all those wonderful indies. The same goes for Shannon (who better to play a maniacal villain?), who does well when called upon to be scary and less well when he displays Elmer Fudd frustration.