Premium Rush

Premium Rush is the story of Wilee, a lawyer turned bike messenger, who is on a mission to deliver an envelope on which a life depends, hotly pursued by a dirty cop (Michael Shannon). Frantically paced and with a plot turning on human trafficking from China, it's MI:4 meets Chinatown.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the lead in this curious star vehicle. Pedalling furiously throughout, Wilee extols the virtues of the fixed-gear life as we quickly realise that this is going to be a laboured, overwrought affair. The story chugs along and, like our star pedaler's performance at busy intersections, makes risky and circuitous moves where the simple, steady route would suffice.

With earnest, at times over keen peformances, no number of extraneous bike races can convince an audience that the plot is exciting. Ticking inexorably towards a generic and morally questionable end, high stakes are not enough to keep this hipster-themed tale of retribution from the verge of self-parody. [Nicola Balkind]