A messenger bike boy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), aptly named Wiley, navigates the frenzied streets of Manhattan, risking his life daily to deliver urgent dispatches in favor of a sleek suit and a cozy office. One day he is sent to a local university to deliver a highly regarded item to an ominous location and finds himself bombarded by a bike cop, a rival messenger, and an odious degenerate detective (Michael Shannon) who direly needs the contents in his backpack. For "Premium Rush", writer/director David Koepp has a fantastic, thrill promised set-up which he opts to almost totally nullify by presenting it in a cheapened and lightly removed fashion. Gordon-Levitt is an actor who can do no wrong wrong for many, but in this tough guy role, although he is physically capable in the role, I find him to be less than credible. Shannon is menacing and actually a lot of fun as the heavy, but his character is such an inept buffoon, the tension is once again drained form the picture, which is something it should have had in droves. "Premium Rush" does get better as it goes along (I thought I was in for something a lot worse after the first five minutes) but considering the great set-up and the considerable talent on hand, it is something of a letdown.
