In the first scene of
Premium Rush Wilee stacks his fixie. I think, dude should have some brakes. Then some breasts enter the frame. I’m not sure what they’re doing there except maybe to reassure us there is eye candy a-coming if we’ll just wait.
The film quickly breaks into action and develops the plot through flashbacks. As the various characters are introduced and so much of the dialogue happens on the run (through mobile phones) all I can think is, I’ve got to get me one of those ears pieces. I’ve tried to talk and ride and I can’t get much above walking pace before people start complaining. In Premium Rush they’re shooting down Broadway pedaling frantically while having crystal clear conversation. I really need some of that technology.
Turns out the breasts belong to Wilee’s girlfriend. The relationship is in a little trouble at the moment but you get the feeling Wilee might be squeezing them again sometime soon if he can pull through whatever tribulations await him in the film. The quirky twist in this film is his tribulations revolve around helping a Chinese woman pay people smugglers to get her kid into the country. Must recommend this film to Pauline Hanson. Or Julia Gillard.
I quickly forgave Premium Rush for taking a few liberties with the phones. With so much of the exposition happening on the run we have to pretend that you can ride and call. The other reason I was willing to go along with them is because, quite surprisingly, the film didn’t suck balls. The action was well cut, the riding believable and the actors all good enough to make this thing tick. And of course it had bikes in it.
The real hero of the movie for me was the New York copper who kept chasing Wilee. We know Wilee is top dog in the company of couriers, alley cat champion three years running. Yet, the New York cop could keep up and so very nearly catch him on his big clunky mountain bike. With the mountain bike suspension and packs and shit, still kept up. Wilee would have been toast if this guy was a on a fixie.
So Wilee got a lucky break with the copper but otherwise he’s a good chump for the nice Chinese lady who wants to smuggle her child into the country and earns the everlasting respect of the woman who owns the breasts. She even symbolically disconnects her front brake. It must be love.
Obviously it’s been a while since the movie was released. I never claimed to be the first with the best news, just the best with the…no that doesn’t work here either. Anyway,
not another fixed-gear blog also just reviewed
Premium Rush so I’m not the only one who is slow off the mark. They have a neat breakdown of the bike Wilee rode and a video (which I’m going to steal because it’s on Vimeo and who can stop me?):
Perhaps what took everyone so long to take an interest in a film that is so very much in our area of interest is the fact that we really thought it would be embarrassing. But it’s not. What helps is that Joseph double-barrel name can ride. It’s not like watching that awful movie Goal! where it had so many cut-aways clearly the main actor could barely kick a ball. In fact, Joseph thingo-thingo rides with a great deal of style and flair:
