Premium Rush

With David Koepp as the director and co-writer of "Premium Rush" and with Joseph Gordon-Levitt staring, I was expecting an entertaining film. Instead, the film was full of characteristics that did not contribute to the story. The film did have a good plot but it did not work in non-linear form. Usually, a movie with this kind of story is designed to keep the audience focused on the narrative but we were reminded a few times that we were watching a movie and this ruined the entertainment experience.

The whole film felt like it was an extreme sports highlight video and the music contributed to this. In terms of drama, "Premium Rush" felt too lighthearted, even during climax. Wilee at one point imagines a guy being run over and at the end of the movie, a huge car crash happens. These moments are unrealistic and take away from the story being told. As mentioned, the film has a good plot and could have been entertaining but instead the movie was poorly directed in post-production. The pace was too much. The non-linear approach can easily succeed in movies like on "The Social Network" or "The Prestige". It did not work in this case because it was harder to relate with the characters with so much going on. We couldn't tell who was good or bad in the case of Nima or Manny. The movie was constructed much like "Vantage Point" and therefore lacked originality. The 3D "Google Maps" shots and "Sherlock Holmes" moments where Wilee had to make split second decisions did not add to the story but took us out of our passive mode of observation. Postmodern cinematic elements like these work in dramatic films like "Annie Hall" and the television film "Wit". Early in those films, postmodern elements establish the type of storytelling that we will see for the whole movie. The same was attempted in "Premium Rush" but this story is not a drama but an action film. This story works better without the post-production graphics and slow motion sequences. One might point out that "Vantage Point" had similar problems and that is true but in that movie, the story came first. The non-linear plot and editing decisions served to create suspense and good storytelling. In "Premium Rush", whenever Wilee uses his app on his phone to find his route or when he has to make a split second decision to get through traffic, the realism that its story demands is lost. I would like to point out the good performance from Oscar nominated actor Michael Shannon who was on "Pearl Harbor" and "World Trade Center".

David Koepp is one of the most successful screenwriters in Hollywood. From "Jurassic Park" to "Angels & Demons", I have enjoyed his work. "Premium Rush" is the first Koepp film to disappoint me. The use of postmodernism in this type of movie was not smart. A basic telling of the tale would have been better as well as applying a linear plotline.

3 Stars