Alternative to What: "Premium Rush" (2012)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Welcome to Alternative to What: a weekly column that tries to find a great alternative to driving to the multiplexes. Based on releases of that week, the selections will either be thematically related or feature recurring cast and crew. The goal is to help you better understand the diversity of cinema and hopefully find you some favorites while saving a few bucks. At worse, this column will save you money. Expect each installment to come out on Fridays, unless specified. 

THIS WEEK:

Premium Rush (2012)

- Alternative To -

Mortdecai (2015)

We're not even a month into 2015 and there's many already hailing Johnny Depp's latest film as possibly the worst film of the year. If that isn't the case, it is at least another note in his flailing career following mediocre appearances in Tusk and Transcendent. The one catch that could have saved it all was the potential for comedy. It has been awhile since we have seen the chameleon actor be funny. However, this is looking to not be one of those cases with a madcap caper that is so over the top that it loses its flavor pretty quickly. At least, that is how the trailers promise things. There isn't much redeemable about it other than it was a premise with potential.

In this week, I choose to go a less predictable route that actually will make Mortdecai sound more appealing than it actually is. Writer and director David Koepp has had a lengthy career working on superhero films and even has collaborated with Depp before on Secret Window. However, if there's any question on his ability to churn out a good movie with a very ridiculous premise, there's no further need to look than his previous directorial effort, which is the highly enjoyable and illogical Premium Rush.

It is a film that flew under radars and almost nobody cared about it. It was even pushed back after initial release plans in 2011. However, the story follows a bike carrier who becomes entangled in a smuggled operation that causes a devious villain to chase after him. Mind you, the film's core plot has a respectability. Everything beyond that is a baffling excuse to have an action film based around chase scenes involving, you guessed it, a bicycle. It is a film that defies you to take it seriously.

The fact is that the premise is inherently stupid. In what logical world does a man in a car chasing a bicycle actually make sense? The intensity comes in a bare bones element that relies on performances by its two lead characters: Joseph Gordon Levitt and Michael Shannon. Between the two are dueling egos as they take this ridiculous subject too seriously. Bicycle science and how to navigate traffic is explored at length. Most of all, it manages to have fun with the premise and subvert the expectations of a genre that has long been associated with other, more mechanical vehicles.

It is a film that doesn't necessarily recall a great director nor one who is striving to even changer the model. All the film wants to do is convince you that this story could be interesting. It is high concept all around. Shannon brings the goofy, neurotic villain of the piece who only adds to the camp core that makes the overall project endearing. Levitt on a bicycle allows for some inventive camera uses as well. Still, when the final showdowns happen before the solid landing, it is all pretty silly and if you're not into the idea of bicycles being a radical vehicle for action, then you won't get into it.

In a sense, Mortdecai's bicycle is Depp. He seems to be rusty and need of oiling up. However, I do hold out some hope that between Koepp's filmography that he will produce something great again. He may not make films that change the world, but as seen by Premium Rush, he can make off kilter subjects pop with life and make you care, if only for the brief and pulpy running time. I have trouble really hating Premium Rush because despite its desire to be something more it succeeds in just being enjoyable and giving us more reason to believe that Levitt is one of the more interesting actors currently working. Now if only Depp can do that again.