Premium Rush (4 Stars)

This is a fast-moving action film that will keep you gasping for breath from start to finish. The chase scenes make up more than half of the film. The next time I watch it I'll let you know the exact percentage, if I don't forget. It's not car chases though. It's bicycle chases through the busy streets of Manhattan, zig-zagging through the middle of the cars.

The film's main character is Wilee, a courier for a bicycle messenger company. In the saturated streets of Manhattan the quickest way to deliver a parcel from A to B is by bicycle. Even among his fellow workers Wilee is considered to be mad. He drives a fixed gear bike with no brakes. As he says more than once during the film, "Most accidents occur when you brake, so I don't brake". I'll have to remember that advice.

Wilee picks up an envelope from an office building at 5:33 pm. He's told that it has to be delivered to the docks by 7 pm. No problem. That's what Wilee does every day. He even has time to buy a hot dog before he begins the job. But that's when the problems begin. A man approaches him and tells him his employee wasn't authorised to give him the envelope, so he wants it back. Wilee insists that a job is a job and rides away as fast as he can. The man follows him by car, attempting to kill him. Wilee decides to report the man to the police before continuing with the delivery, but he finds out that the man pursuing him is a police detective. The only thing he can do is finish the job he's been given, chased by cars and other bicycles.

This is a film that has to be seen to be believed. After watching it I thought to myself, "I like it even if the critics don't". Then I checked what critics have said, and the film is highly praised. The critics love it, but strangely the audience doesn't. It was a box office flop when it was released in 2012.

The film might be all action, but it's well told. The narrative is non-linear, with flashbacks within flashbacks. Slowly we're told what the secret behind the envelope is, and we even find out that it's no coincidence that Wilee was picked to deliver it.

There's one small quibble I have with the film. In the chase sequences the car is never far behind the bike. Is that realistic? The film's premise is that bicycles are the fastest means of transit in the city, so how can a car possibly keep up?

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