Premium Rush

Premium Rush is a fun, high-energy, but ultimately disposable bike messenger movie. The chases through the busy streets of Manhattan are the main reason to see the film, and they're enough to recommend it, but although the nonlinear narrative keeps things interesting enough, I expected a much better story from Hollywood super-hack David Koepp, who wrote Jurassic Park, Spiderman, Mission Impossible, Panic Room, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and many more. Premium Rush is also the first film to feature a truly horrendous performance from the great actor Michael Shannon (Take Shelter, Revolutionary Road). Whatever Koepp and Shannon are going for (bad latter-day Nick Cage?), it doesn’t work, and Shannon's villain is laughable, in a bad way. The entire cast, in fact, ranges from weak to awful, and the climax of the movie is preposterously silly.