It's like "Speed," except with a bicycle instead of a bus! And instead of a bomb, there's a package that has to be delivered on time! What's not to love? Also, Columbia is in it. Remember when they were filming here? If you don't, we covered it here.
The movie has a 69 on Metacritic at the time this post was written. The Chicago Tribune says it's "the thinking person's mindless entertainment," and Variety calls it "lovably ridiculous." But my favorite review of the flick comes from the Tampa Bay Times, which managed to sneak a whopping six bike-related puns into a pretty short amount of space. An excerpt: "Working in tandem, they make Premium Rush a movie that's off the chain, as the kids say." (I think Mayor Bloomberg's speechwriter must have moved to Florida.)
In other words, the reviews are about a thousand times more positive than I was expecting. So go see it! I'll be checking it out as well, and in honor of Columbia, I am going to try to suspend my disbelief regarding the following issues:
1. What kind of bike messenger refuses to hand a package he's delivering over to armed and dangerous thugs who are demanding it?
2. Instead of chasing him all over the city, why don't the thugs just offer him a thousand bucks or something and call it a day? Surely no bike messenger makes so much money that he would turn his nose up at a bribe. There would be no need for all this violence.
