For a couple of reasons, Premium Rush took a very long amount of time until it was completed and distributed to your local cineplex. Principal shooting of the film began in July of 2010. Star actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt was injured doing a scene, and that caused a delay.
Then there was a lawsuit claiming copyright infringement made in 2011. In July of 2012, a federal judge declined to dismiss the lawsuit brought by author Joe Quirk, which claimed that Sony Pictures, and the film’s principals – Pariah Productions, director David Koepp, and co-screenwriter John Kamps – were in breach of an implied contract.
With that background, the film opened five days ago on Friday, August 24th, and it veritably jump starts you right into the action with no delay whatsoever. Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a bicycle messenger working in Manhattan. His assignment will be to go up to Columbia University at 116th Street and Broadway, pick up an envelope, and get it delivered to an address in Chinatown on Doyers Street by 7:00.
When he gets the assignment, it is close to 5:00 PM and he is at the messenger service office in midtown. For this package, time is of the essence, and for this, the agency dispatcher labels the delivery Premium Rush, and charges a higher than standard fee.
So Wilee has to ride up to Columbia, pick up the package for delivery, then ride back downtown in a little more than 90 minutes,
which coincidentally is the length of the movie. When the client signs the delivery order ticket, it is 5:33 PM, so, as you can imagine, things are going to happen very quickly in this film. Maybe they should have called the film Breathless. Apologies to the 1960 film, Breathless, by Jean-Luc Godard which starred Jean-Paul Belmondo as a car thief, and also to the 1983 film of the same name which starred Richard Gere, as a car thief. On second thought, Breathless may not be the correct title, as Gordon-Levitt never seems out of breath.
