Premium Rush: Movie Review

If there is one word to describe the experience of seeing this movie,  it would be “a rush.” Oh wait, that’s two words. What about a frickin’ awesome rush? Well, that sounds a bit better, but that’s three words and that’s my bad. In all honesty, Premium Rush had me at the edge of my seat from the first minute until the last and that, ladies and gents is entertainment at its finest.

Directed by David Koepp, and written also by David Koepp and John Kamps, the film revolves around New York bike messenger Wilee (Joseph Gordon Levitt) who unwittingly receives a premium rush delivery which contains a ticket worth a huge amount of money. He tries to make it to the deadline while a dirty cop indebted to the Chinese gambling mob does his damnest to stop him from delivering the envelope, chasing him all across the streets of Manhattan to achieve his goal.

Premium Rush was a nail biter from Minute One. I loved the pure athleticism and skills of the actors and stuntmen involved in this movie, which effectively depicted the day to day dangers encountered by over 1,500 bike messengers in a city as busy as New York. There were plenty of great riding in the film, further made cool by tricks worthy of the X-games (well, close enough). Man, most of the chase scenes almost gave me a heart attack because of its sheer speed.

I loved the way the story unfolded, and the way the entire film was presented. It had an indie sort of edginess but still tempered by mainstream flavor that would appeal to audiences. This, I think was made possible by great editing and effects. The GPS and the trial and error effects were executed flawlessly and were very relevant to the movie.

There were only a few actors who were in the movie, Gordon-Levitt being on the front and center, but somehow, the movie seemed bigger because of the focus on the key characters.  The irony of his name, being similar to Wil.E. Cayote, who is known for his endless (yet unfruitful) pursuit of the Roadrunner to his character being the one pursued by the dirty cop to great personal cost was a great touch.

Gordon-Levitt deserves a great big pat on the back for pulling off the cycling part of the movie to endearing himself to the audience with his character’s smart alecky ways and resourcefulness, as with the rest of the cast. Levitt was Premium Rush. They couldn’t have cast a better actor to fit the part.

All in all, Premium Rush was a great ride. Hats off to the filmmakers to this salute to bike messengers, all around the world. There’s no greater way to honor them than by showing the audience what an awful risk is involved in delivering messages, and humanizing their profession by highlighting their sense of community.

P.S. Here in the Philippines, bike couriers are called “Lagarista” and mostly carry film reels from one theater to another. There was a movie released in 2000, directed by Mel Chionglo which starred actor Piolo Pascual. It was shown in several international film festivals (Toronto, Chicago, Pusan and Hong Kong) and had local limited release.

Safe: A Review

There are two things that audiences expect from a Jason Statham movie: 1. heart pounding action and 2. elaborate car chases that put them at the edge of their seats. On these two counts, Safe does deliver. As for whether or not the movie reaches the level of Statham’s greatest offerings, I’m not quite sure.

Ah Mei is an elementary student from China who is gifted on the subject of numbers. Her extraordinary talents catch the attention of the Chinese Triad so they take her hostage to use her as a human database for their operations in the United States. Luke Wright is a reformed hitman who ekes out a living as a mixed martial artist for the underground circuit. During a fight, he inadvertedly costs the Russian Mafia a pretty penny by knocking down and permanently injuring a rising star whom the Mafia has bet millions of dollars on. As punishment, the Mafia kills his wife and keeps him alive, but shadows his every move and kills anyone he ever gets close to.  Backed into a wall, Luke tries to kill himself but not before he spies a little girl being chased by mobsters on the subway. The girl turns out to be Ah Mei, who survives an ambush on her car by the Russians to get hold of a set of numbers she has memorized, numbers so precious that they unlock a safe with millions of dollars and an incriminating disc that could put an end to the Chinese Triad.

The plot for Safe actually has great potential with the amount of conspiracies and double crosses integrated into its main story. Aside from the gangster warfare between the Russians and the Chinese in New York, corrupt policemen also join the fray by selling their loyalty to the higherst bidder. I got a kick out of seeing Robert John Burke, who plays Bart Bass in one of my guilty pleasures Gossip Girl as Chief Wolf, one of the most bad ass cops I’ve seen on the big screen in a while. Director and screenwriter Boaz Yakin, who incidentally wrote the screenplay for Prince of Persia really dug deep into his experiences as a New Yorker to come up with such an intricate plotline.

The fight choreography, which I read was one of Statham’s main criteria for choosing movies to star in, was also top notch, ranging from hand to hand combat, grapling, stunts, gunbattles and all sorts of ass-kickery. However, I confess that I fell asleep during the earlier parts of the movie while the conflicts were still being established. I just felt that the transitioning was lacking in coherence, especially when the film was going back and forth between China and the US , and between scenes featuring Ah Mei and Luke.

As a result, the movie read like a two-act play, wherein the first part was dull and boring and relied mainly on lengthy dialogues and negotiations. During the second act, however, the filmmakers pushed the pedal to the action and held nothing back in establishing that Safe is indeed an action movie and that there should be no doubt that they know what they are doing.

All in all, there was really nothing safe about the movie. I’m still on the fence as to whether or not I loved it. I just felt that there was something missing but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, as yet.

101 ways to leave a game show: A premiere review

I’m only writing this entry because I really think this show is so cool. If you think Fear Factor has a cool concept (despite being gross), multiply that by 10 and you get this crazy game show that escorts losing contestants out of the show by way of 101 dangerous stunts. Developed by the creators of Wipeout, the winner gets $50,000 and losers get a rush from the creative and wacky exits the show’s team has cooked up for them ranging from car explosions, drops from moving vehicles, ejections by jet pack and plane rides outside of the planes.

EXIT BY JETPACK. How cool is it to leave a game show by getting shot off a jetpack, just like in the movies? The contestant doesn't seem to think so.

In the preliminary round of the show, the contestants are asked a uniform question which they will all answer, closest answer to the correct one gets first pick from the multiple choice entries for the actual question. The contestant who gets stuck with the wrong answer gets booted off the show in style (with his life in peril). Second round is pretty much the same until only four contestants remain to battle it out for the cash prize. The US version is hosted by Jeff Sutphen whose ad libs are off the hook.

The reason why I totally love this show is because I too, am an adrenaline junkie. Anyone who knows me would likely say that I would probably get more of a kick out of getting the wrong answer if only to experience the cool exit (despite the danger). I love how the contestants cry for dear life and panic at the thought of getting ejected but for me, its all great entertainment. I mean, at the end of the day, how often can one person experience the same things they did on the show, right?

This show rocks! Its totally over the top but in a good way. I wouldn’t change a thing.