What a Rush

To truly grasp Premium Rush (2012), it helps if you've seen Quicksilver and maybe Tracers. Yes, this is another bicycle messenger movie, and maybe the greatest one yet.

It starts with Joseph Gordon-Levitt flying through the air in slo-mo, heading for a very bad crackup. A caption shows the time and the movie rewinds a few hours to show you how he got that way. This is always a fun trick - let's you know the clock is ticking.

Basically, JGL is a bike messenger who is a rebel, a lawschool dropout, who wouldn't show up at his girlfriend's graduation (Dania Ramirez, playing another messenger). As is always the case, he gets a package with a dangerous secret, and the bad guys are out to get it and/or him.

The bad guys are mainly Michael Shannon as Detective Bobby Monday (although he uses "Forrest J. Ackerman" as a cover ID). Also, some Triad guys, like in Tracers. And he's a great bad guy, mean and dumb but dangerous as hell.

In addition to a good villain, the movie has some cute modern gimmicks, like Google-Maps-style routes to keep you oriented, split-second mind's-eye extrapolations of what the traffic will do, and the aforementioned ticking clock. Also, great stunts, plus interesting characters portrayed by good actors. Ramirez's character, for example, is just as kick-ass as JGL's and gets her chance to prove it.

This is not a deep movie - really just a fun action flick,a well-made big budget B-movie. But if you liked Quicksilver, you'll love this.