Filmmaker Dax Shepard wants to toss you into a souped-up Lincoln and race through towns that promise black eyes and broken noses. You want to go, too, but then you get in the car and realize he can’t drive stick.
In “Hit and Run,” the writer-director romanticizes such roadhouse grit through montages that distract from an otherwise boring and certainly gritless film. Plagued by overwritten dialogue that renders tonal ambiguity, the film feels more like an occasionally fun Sunday drive than the cross-country gut punch that Shepard aims for.
Shepard stars as Charlie Bronson, a former Los Angeles getaway driver who moved to cow country as a protected witness four years ago. When his girlfriend Annie (Kristen Bell) gets a top-tier job opportunity in Los Angeles, Charlie returns home only to find that former foes are already on their tail.
Needless to say, Charlie is the perfect post-feminist, and spends a great deal of time celebrating himself for that reason. Every other line involves some hammy declaration of how much he cares about Annie. He’s unassuming but self-righteously so.
Annie sports the same contrived likability, herself a sociology professor whose contribution to the adventure is to bring it to a halt and discuss the rhetorical mechanics of slurs and gendered language. Rarely do these characters just shut up and behave.
Beautiful chase scenes pick up the pieces. Shepard bathes his Lincoln Continental in dog day sunlight, making sure we see the dirt on his and Annie’s faces and the tatters of their clothes.
Shepard also impresses as the actual stunt driver of the film, making us wonder why he devotes so much focus to academic pillow talk rather than his chops as a speed racer. Maybe storytelling’s the one trick missing from Shepard’s wheelhouse.
Premium Rush
“Premium Rush” exhilarates audiences in an unlikely manner, satiating the “need for speed” through the perspective of a cyclist.
“Premium Rush” embraces the life of a New York bike messenger experiencing the freedom that he has always dreamed of. Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) desires to cycle his way around the city delivering mail, instead of being tied down and forced into a suit.
Wilee is considered the best messenger in all of New York and is known for his desire for attention.
His skills with a bike outmatch any other as he puts himself in near death experiences doing a variety of jumps and tricks.
After accepting a letter designated to arrive in Chinatown, Wilee is forced into an unprecedented situation. Wilee ignorantly entered into an affair much greater than he could have expected.
His attempts to collect a delivery fee are impeded by many things including fellow messengers, his boss and a corrupt cop.
Ignorant of the contents of the letter, Wilee becomes a force to be reckoned with as his only goal is to deliver the letter.
Gordon-Levitt does a brilliant job portraying the adventurous cyclist. He is a conglomeration of every desirable trait in an actor. From his witty banter to his precise facial expressions, Gordon-Levitt was the perfect choice to play Wilee.
“Premium Rush” was well-played due to the array of characters and the fresh storyline.
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