Premium Rush
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: August 24, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
10
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisAug 23, 2012
Stuffed with zingers and zippy stunts, it comes with pretty young things of all hues and hair types - few prettier than its lead, Joseph Gordon-Levitt - and start-to-finish clever special effects, none more clever or special than Michael Shannon. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanAug 27, 2012
The simple, utterly satisfying Premium Rush delivers just what the title promises. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 23, 2012
Premium Rush is great fun - nimble, quick, the thinking person's mindless entertainment. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAug 22, 2012
You're looking for depth and profundity, this is the wrong movie. But under the direction of David Koepp ("Secret Window," the screenplays for "Mission: Impossible" and "Spider-Man"), this is an expert and spellbinding adventure. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallAug 23, 2012
Working in tandem they (Gordon-Levitt/Shannon) make Premium Rush a movie that's off the chain, as the kids say. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasAug 22, 2012
He's Premium Rush's villain, but Shannon doesn't attempt anything like the austere derangement of a Hans Gruber type, even though he specializes in playing terrifying nutjobs. Instead, he's a buffoon of the first order, and his hapless tomfoolery sets the tone for a light, fast, frequently hilarious 90 minutes. Read full review
80
Village VoiceNick PinkertonAug 27, 2012
There is a lot of silly bike-is-life philosophy, including Wilee's personal credo of "Fixed gear, steel frame, no brakes," none of which I can speak to because I don't care a tinker's damn about bikes, but I do have an abiding fondness for compact and coherent action movies, and this is surely one. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinAug 27, 2012
Premium Rush is that rare bird: a chase picture that's just a chase picture - and a dandy one. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyAug 23, 2012
The action is inventive, extensive and exciting, a bang-up job by cinematographer Mitchell Amundsen, one of the town's hot new shooters. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierAug 23, 2012
The actors click into high gear, and Premium Rush delivers. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 25, 2012
This one delivers. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliAug 23, 2012
What makes this whole thing work is, first of all, Wilee's ride, an elegant machine that lacks any gears or brakes. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigAug 23, 2012
Despite far-fetched plot points - such as a flash mob of bike messengers ready to rumble and thwart evil - it's easy to get caught up in this life-or-death two-wheeled slalom. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanAug 23, 2012
Premium Rush earns its place as end-of-the-summer escapism, but I can't say that it's more than a well-done formula flick. At this point, it's just one more movie-as-ride. But this one at least lives up to its title. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerAug 23, 2012
Proves how invigorating genre filmmaking can be in the hands of a savvy, perpetually inventive director. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeAug 23, 2012
A quick pace and always-enjoyable lead Joseph Gordon-Levitt will please moviegoers, even if the picture's ticking-clock approach isn't as invigoratingly pulpy here as in the Koepp-penned "Snake Eyes" and "Panic Room." Read full review
70
TimeRichard CorlissAug 23, 2012
So appealing is Gordon-Levitt that, for great stretches of his new movie, I suspended my disapproval of his character and just went with the nonstop flow. He almost persuaded me that the film is, if not a premium rush, then an economy high. Read full review
70
VarietyAndrew BarkerAug 23, 2012
The lovably ridiculous bike-messenger thriller Premium Rush is a welcome throwback. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn LevyAug 23, 2012
A rather routine thriller that's got two things going for it: the ticking of a clock and the clickety-click of bicycle wheels. Both impart a sense of exhilaration to a thin and even silly story, engaging you when, really, you ought to know better. Read full review
67
The PlaylistGabe ToroAug 23, 2012
Just as the film is about to deliver it's package, it sends the viewer an I.O.U. instead, botching two-thirds of what may be Koepp's most entertaining film as a director. Read full review
65
MovielineAlison WillmoreAug 23, 2012
Premium Rush is a half-entertaining, half-exasperating movie. Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie MerryAug 23, 2012
The summertime diversion will give audiences a little jolt of nervous energy along with a few laughs. A rush is about making the most of the present, not creating lasting memories. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 23, 2012
Unfortunately, David Koepp - the A-list Hollywood screenwriter (Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds) and decidedly less-successful director (Ghost Town, Secret Window) - can't find the right Looney Tunes-ish tone for his immersion into bike-messenger culture. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 23, 2012
Premium Rush features fearless stunt work that shames most computer trickery. Too bad I didn't believe a minute of it. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly RichardsSep 10, 2012
A movie that while thin and silly, moves with such joyous speed that you almost want to throw your arms in the air and scream. Read full review
60
Total FilmKevin HarleySep 1, 2012
It's definitely the 'other' Gordon-Levitt film out this month, but this silly cycler whizzes by amiably. Star charm helps: JGL's enjoyment in his job adds welcome levels of Levitt-y. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 24, 2012
Is Premium Rush a two-wheeled "French Connection"? No, not by a long shot. (Although it does include a racing-beneath-the-el-train homage.) But when it comes to lightweight, synapse-free action fare, Premium Rush delivers. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichAug 24, 2012
After the story takes a cloyingly sentimental turn, this lean-and-mean thriller becomes bathetically bloated. Just a few spokes short of a wheel, guys. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineSara Maria VizcarrondoAug 22, 2012
Premium Rush has a rewarding relentlessness and a payoff that suggests that whirring city that surrounds us in is full of supporters who see past the system. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenAug 23, 2012
On the byways of any bustling metropolis, here is what the combination of bicycles + cars + pedestrians is certain to produce: (1) nasty accidents and (2) ferocious debates. More surprisingly, on the silver screen in Premium Rush, here is what the same combination fails to produce: a good action movie. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsAug 23, 2012
The delivery pouch for Premium Rush promises a white-hot thriller from the bike-messenger subculture. But what's inside the package seems like a lukewarm action-comedy from the pile of scripts that Matthew Broderick rejected after "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyAug 23, 2012
Premium Rush has a lot of energy - too much, it's kind of exhausting. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghAug 23, 2012
The film is a live-action cartoon down to its main character's name -- Wilee, "like the coyote." It's just a few sticks of dynamite and a 10-ton anvil short of going full Looney Tunes, and is all the worse for that restraint. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAug 22, 2012
The action is neither cathartic nor supremely exhilarating. "Bullitt" on a bike this film is not. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezAug 24, 2012
The best moments in director David Koepp's slight, dull movie are the scenes in which bike messenger Wilee pauses at busy intersections to figure out the path of least obstruction. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithAug 23, 2012
Stakes aren't the only problem with this sloppy thriller, which combines careening images with turgid storytelling. Read full review
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