( CNN ) -- For some reason , moviemakers have n't been falling over themselves to glorify the exciting and heroic lives of bike messengers -- which at least leaves director David Koepp with a clear field . And if it 's a two-wheeled , pedal-powered adrenaline charge you 're after , this is definitely the movie to watch . Yes , the plot is contrived and stretched much too thin . Yes , the characters are strictly off the peg . And yes , this flick is essentially a one-trick pony . But at least it 's something different . `` Premium Rush '' is loaded with on-road action , scarcely pausing for breath as courier Wilee ( Joseph Gordon-Levitt ) criss-crosses Manhattan on his austere steel-frame , fixed-gear , no-brakes bone-rattler . Wilee takes his handle from the Coyote , but he 's got more in common with Road Runner , zipping through the city 's canyons , slaloming around cabs and pedestrians , oblivious to red lights and traffic regulations . Gordon-Levitt 's an attractive and engaging actor , but motorists may find it challenging to overlook this guy 's reckless and self-centered road sense , which is dressed up here as your typical Zen-existential-death-wish trip . The Coyote role -- one Robert Monday -- falls to Hollywood 's current go-to crazy , Michael Shannon ( `` Take Shelter , '' `` Boardwalk Empire '' ) , who sucks up all the juiciest dialogue as a guy with impulse control issues . He 's after an envelope that Wilee is delivering downtown -- it really does n't matter why -- and he 's not going to take no for an answer . Frankly , I 'd have liked to have spent more time with this unhinged brother to the `` Bad Lieutenant . '' I mean , who did n't wish the Coyote got his bird just once ? Koepp , who also wrote the screenplay with John Kamps , ramps up the velocity with low camera angles , speeded-up photography and a rag-bag of digital add-ons . Wilee plots intersections with a kind of mental Streetview , calculating potential wipeouts and collisions like Sherlock Holmes armed with a GPS . This souped-up visual gimmickry is eye-catching but as empty and artificial as Koepp 's story , which skates over several glaring coincidences and absurdities on what must be the unluckiest day in Wilee 's life . It does n't have to be `` Bicycle Thieves , '' but a more nuts and bolts approach to physical reality would n't have hurt : fewer impossible jumps , more hard landings . I can readily believe that a cyclist could stay a step ahead of a car on Manhattan 's crowded streets -- just as well , as the movie is essentially a series of long chase scenes stuck end to end - but a modicum of consistency would be nice . One minute , Wilee is racing hell for leather to evade a bike cop ; the next , he 's parking outside a police station to report the bug-eyed motorist trying to turn him into roadkill . Probably to satisfy the moneymen , and maybe to spin out his slim 75-minute story to an hour and a half , Koepp also throws in a romantic subplot . It 's an unnecessary distraction from the business at hand . Koepp shifts backward and forward in time when it suits him , but altogether too much of the romantic sparring takes place on the hands-free as Wilee and Vanessa ( Dania Ramirez ) hurtle in different directions . Trust me : That heavy breathing you hear has nothing to do with sex . An unpretentious throwback to the kind of action movie that had no need of superheroes , `` Premium Rush '' is hardly a classic but fun up to a point , and it 's a B movie for gearheads with no bells and whistles .
`` Premium Rush '' is centered around a group of New York bike messengers . The film follows the lives and loves of these couriers as they ride to work, hang out with friends, or just have fun on their bikes. There is also a romantic subplot involving Wilee and another of the bikers .