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I recall seeing a trailer for a movie featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt with the whole world it seemed chasing him on his bicycle after seeing the very same man impress in The Dark Knight Rises and I thought to myself, this looks promising.
And lo and behold Saigonese film buffs will be trotting along to their local cinema hall this weekend to catch the man, who looks certain to be the next Robin, maybe with or without Batman, sometime in the future, in action in the very same film.
In that two minute trailer plug, we had it all; young guy doing his job as a bicycle messenger no less, being chased around New York City by assassins and it just so happens he is a wizard on wheels, what more can you ask for.
Of course for your benefit I have delved a little deeper and actually know now that the movie is called Premium Rush, which is a good start.
Directed by David Koepp and written by Koepp and John Kamps, we follow Wilee (Gordon-Levitt) your friendly neighborhood bicycle courier who becomes embroiled in a complex but enjoyable plot as he delivers a package which a number of people are desperate to get their hands on.
Michael Shannon stars as the dirty cop Bobby Monday, Vanessa (Dania Ramirez) is Wilee’s former love and Nim Ga (Jamie Chung) is Vanessa’s room-mate who actually instigates the brouhaha with the US$50,000 she has saved up so that her son and mother can be smuggled into the U.S. from China.
Nim Ga has to pay the cash in exchange for two tickets on one of the mysterious Sister Chen’s ships for her beloved family members. That is when the fun starts resulting in Wilee fighting for his life.
Also in the mix are Aaron Tveit as Kyle and Aasif Mandvi as Raj.
Now action thrillers are more my thing, but if you just love action without any acting or thrills or any plot whatsoever go and watch Expendables 2.
The first round of absolute nonsense was so cliched with Big Sly Stallone ‘going back for the young raven-haired damsel in the small village being harassed by the local baddie’, I was sure John Wayne was going to ride past him on a horse.
Anyway the gang are back to have some fun and earn some megabucks without stretching themselves too much, with Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) ready for their next mission with Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench also involved.
If you weren’t happy enough with the tons of recent and fading action stars there are new recruits in Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan).
The gang is reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis), come on Bruce you are not that desperate, enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like easy money on and off the screen for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries.
But when things go wrong and one of the team is murdered, the Expendables are out for revenge in enemy territory where the odds are stacked against them.
Also making an appearance is former action star Jean-Claude Van Damme as Jean Vilain, the leader of a band of mercenaries, well another band of mercenaries that are on the wrong side of the good guys. And the baddest, bad ass star of them all Chuck Norris as Booker. Jeez whoever was in charge of the budget must be sweating.
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