Sadly, nobody saw the Dardennes' movie, so I'm hijacking this thread in the name of the ultimate kid-with-a-bike movie, Premium Rush.
What Haywire was to '90s direct-to-video action movies, Premium Rush is to '90s extreme sports movies, except ten times as fun. I honestly can't tell how much the filmmakers were taking it seriously and how much they were taking the piss, and frankly, I'm not sure which I would prefer.
The first and most important thing about the movie is that Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character hates brakes. HATES 'EM. We know this because he says so at least once every 90 seconds. His hatred of brakes is so potent that at one point it causes his estranged, ethnically-diverse girlfriend to rip the brakes off her own bike, blaming them rather than her decision-making for the accident she just got into. He also hates bikes with multiple gears, but manages to express this disdain through his lifestyle choices rather than talking about it all the damn time.
Somehow, though, brakes are not the main antagonist of the film. That honor goes to the movie's secret weapon, Michael Shannon, playing Ray Liotta if Ray Liotta were a mid-90s Gary Oldman character. You guys, Michael Shannon is SO GOOD in this movie. He goes over over-the-top's top from beginning to end. There is no scenery that is safe from his hungry jaws.
I'll try not to spoil too much in the way of plot (it really doesn't matter), but I do have to describe one scene that exemplifies why I loved this movie. JGL and his still-somewhat-estranged girlfriend with a distracting accent are trapped in a police impound garage, hiding behind all the impounded bikes. JGL's bike is smashed to bits, Michael Shannon is hot on his trail, and goddammit, he still has a package to deliver. Suddenly, he spots a beat-up old BMX bike hanging up on the wall. He says something along the lines of, "I can totally shred on that." (That's not the exact line, but it's how I remembered it.) The Raconteurs' "Salute Your Solution" starts blasting on the soundtrack, and next thing you know he's bike-parkouring all over that garage. The greatest poets who ever lived could not adequately describe how happy this scene made me.
To sum it up,
Quote from: chere mill on March 31, 2012, 07:21:58 PM
it's a masterpiece.
ouch. so much for the dardennes on xixax.
dude I didn't know you can just hijack threads like that as an admin. that's not nice.
Just wait till we turn Heneke's Amour into the official Hope Springs thread.
Quote from: pete on August 25, 2012, 01:14:15 AM
dude I didn't know you can just hijack threads like that as an admin. that's not nice.
I prefer the term "misappropriation", but I take your point. I'll split it off into its own thread tomorrow.
(https://xixax.com/Smileys/default/new_tomato.gif)
bad movie.
fake chase sequences. so-so plot (the whole movie really was just one guy being chased by an angrier, clumsier guy, who never fires a gun or throws a punch - but instead just grimaces at different registers), with one of the worst endings in recent memory. the movie has no climax; three quarters of the way through all the adversaries just threw their hands up, and then inexplicably some super ridiculous help arrives for a hero who doesn't really need help, and then the movie ends.
the best of this kind of movie in the last ten years was Cellular, and even that wasn't very good.
Quote from: pete on August 26, 2012, 03:01:48 AM
the best of this kind of movie in the last ten years was Cellular, and even that wasn't very good.
Funny you mention that, because I actually saw "cellular" the other day on tv and I kinda liked it. (Though I thought Kim bassinger was fucking awful)
Back to the thread... I saw premium rush this afternoon and I agree (even though it was entertaining) it wasn't that good. I really like Joseph-gordon Levitt, I mean, we all have a bit of a man crush on JGL but but not even him can save this movie. Let's be honest, the story is fucking ludicrous and a lot of parts of the movie just felt plain stupid. Michael Shannon's imo had the best performance in the movie (definitely the funniest one) and
*** SPOILER ALERT *** it kinda pissed me off when they killed him.. Also Dania Ramirez wasn't bad either.
Anyways, safe to say:
THE KID WITH A BIKE > PREMIUM RUSHBut with that said, Premium rush was entertaining in a "Dumb" sort of way... Kinda like the fast and the furious movies. But with MUCH BETTER acting.
6 out of 10
fast and the furious were much better. premium rush just didn't deliver. there was no intensity and no point. seemed like they ran out of budget and just ended the movie with some happy faces and happy music.
It wasn't better than Fast Five, but it was better than 1-4.
Where's Stefen when you need him? I feel like he would appreciate this movie on the same level as I did.
Stefen is only here when you don't need him. That's what makes him Stefen.
my problem wasn't with the movie's intelligence - I just don't remember any summer action movie in recent years that petered out like this.
Here's how I saw it: taken seriously, yes, it's an objectively bad movie. Taken as a genre riff, with that genre being that weird era in the '90s where every other movie was about skateboarders saving the rec center, or kids thwarting a terrorist attack with the power of Razor scooters, it is EXACTLY what it's supposed to be. The theme of those movies was always that whatever your hobby was, it made you part of a community of like-minded enthusiasts that combine to create a force so powerful they can accomplish literally anything. It's only in that context that the climax of Premium Rush makes sense, when the little squabbling sub-culture of bike messengers put aside all their differences and banded together for one of their own. Is it ridiculous? Yes. But it's a ridiculousness so sublime, I will defend this movie to my last breath.
There's a better discussion about this movie than from the people who saw The Master.
:yabbse-huh:
I agree with Polka. This was a dumb-fun movie. Sure, it's Hollywood Screenwriting 101. You can clearly see the gears behind the film cranking away. The characterizations are obvious. You have the brash Wilee, as in Wile E. Coyote (which is referenced directly by a character) who doesn't want an office job and hates brakes, the co-worker/nemesis, the will-they-won't-they-of-course-they-will romance, the Macguffin to start the chase. But it's well-crafted to that end, and it held my attention the whole time. The bike angle make it quite thrilling. This movie makes biking in NYC look like the scariest thing ever.
I'm so happy right now.
My new goal in life is to be the guest on the How Did This Get Made? episode about this movie. It's my main goal!
Quote from: polkablues on August 27, 2012, 05:17:36 PMI will defend this movie to my last breath.
Why didn't he change his red shirt? Or just take it off?
There's no time to change shirts! He has no brakes, for god's sake! Can't stop! Don't want to! No brakes!
Okay, fair enough. Another question.
SPOILERS
The Asian godfather tells Nima that the ticket represents money, and that anyone in possession of it can claim said money. This is why Corrupt Detective is after it. A ridiculous premise, but fine, I'll accept it. I'm willing to engage with a movie on its own terms, especially if those terms are so clearly laid out.
So when Wilee turns in the ticket, is he given a cash-filled briefcase? No, because the ticket does not represent money. It represents something very specific, apparently, but definitely not that.
If Wilee walks in with the ticket, they instantly make a call to let Nima's son board a boat. But if Corrupt Detective walks in with the ticket, they give him cash?
Okay, let's see if I'm remembering this right. The guy that gave the ticket to Nima was essentially a broker, a middle-man between her and the smugglers who were going to get her son to the US. The ticket only represented money in the sense that it was a receipt, or a proof of purchase. Delivered to Sister Chen, it meant the transaction was completed and the order was made to let the son on the boat, because Sister Chen could then have brought the ticket back to the broker and received the payment. If delivered directly back to the broker, as the detective would have done, it would have signified a cancelling of the transaction, the son wouldn't have been allowed on the boat, and the detective would have been given the money that Nima originally paid for the ticket, which he then would have given to the loan sharks to settle his debt. It's basically just an escrow system.
Quote from: polkablues on February 12, 2016, 01:49:11 PM
Okay, let's see if I'm remembering this right. The guy that gave the ticket to Nima was essentially a broker, a middle-man between her and the smugglers who were going to get her son to the US. The ticket only represented money in the sense that it was a receipt, or a proof of purchase. Delivered to Sister Chen, it meant the transaction was completed and the order was made to let the son on the boat, because Sister Chen could then have brought the ticket back to the broker and received the payment.
I'm with you so far...
Quote from: polkablues on February 12, 2016, 01:49:11 PMIf delivered directly back to the broker, as the detective would have done, it would have signified a cancelling of the transaction, the son wouldn't have been allowed on the boat, and the detective would have been given the money that Nima originally paid for the ticket, which he then would have given to the loan sharks to settle his debt. It's basically just an escrow system.
So the detective is allowed to cancel Nima's transaction? Why? The broker tells Nima to call if she runs into any trouble. Which she does.
I thought the detective went to the flower shop or whatever to retrieve and cash in the ticket. (Because the broker literally said anyone can now turn this in for cash, "this is now money" etc.) Was the detective instead going to take it back to the broker? The broker whose henchman was after him?!
This is the paradox. The ticket is suddenly free-floating currency, and the broker essentially says it's out of his hands now. But he also tells Nima to call if she runs into trouble. Can they really have it both ways? How can this ticket be both a viable target of theft and be protected by the broker?
I would have loved this ending: The detective turns the ticket in to Sister Chen, and she's like okay cool, Nima's son is good to go. Thanks for making the delivery.
Bear in mind it's been over three years since I've seen this movie. Also bear in mind it's a sublimely dumb movie, and we're probably giving more thought to this plot point right now than the filmmakers ever did.
no no no, keep going. this is super entertaining.
edit: i'm now doing y'alls voices out loud reading this out. its pretty awesome.
Okay. I don't remember what the detective's plan was. Was he taking it to the broker, or to the loan shark? Either way, whoever ends up with the ticket gets to redeem it for the money. It's like dry-cleaning. It doesn't matter if they're your clothes, if you bring in the claim ticket, you get to walk out with them.
I have no idea about the broker sending the henchman after the detective. That does seem inconsistent. But even the greatest movies have massive plot holes. Like how there was no one near Charles Foster Kane to be able to hear him say "Rosebud." Am I saying that Premium Rush is the Citizen Kane of bike courier crime thrillers? Yes. I'm saying exactly that. Cue music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lL1CW140FQ
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FuOFqBKQ.gif&hash=7fc6863c20720afa8760fe3e9351bc9602a74609)
The broker does indeed send his own henchman after the detective to protect Nima's purchase. (We even get like two close-ups of this henchman so we remember him.) The broker also gives Nima the distinct impression that she's screwed if she loses it. So yeah, I think this is a contradiction the movie can't get around.
One possible semi-solution is that you can bring the ticket to that place and give it to one person to receive cash, and another person to free Nima's son. How Wilee or the detective would know how to choose is beyond me. But it's possible they did. Absolutely none of this is actually in the film.
It's a fun movie, though. I almost turned it off a few minutes in, because I realized I was supposed to be on board with these crazy cyclists who I would happily run over in real-life. But the movie leaned into that so hard that I was sold.
I absolutely love the post-credit scene, where Wilee gleefully rides through an intersection and causes a horrifying accident that's only briefly seen on-screen. The movie is 100% a cartoon.
Edit: OMG Jenkins just posted it! There you go.
I salute all of your solutions.