Director: David Koepp
Year Released: 2012
Rating: 2.0
Pedal, JGL, Pedal! N.Y.C. bike messenger Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) unknowingly ends up with a MacGuffin (a ticket worth several thousand dollars) in his bag, which leads to a crackpot detective in gambling debt (Michael Shannon) to chase after him and after him and after him. The chase scenes - by longtime scribe Koepp - are masterfully done, but it's the hip gloss on everything else that rankles: the iPod/Google Earth overviews of Manhattan (or the Choose-Your-Own-Route Google Maps-esque decision-making by JLG, in tense close-up), the sassy dialogue, the concerted effort to seem cool and modern (check out these bicycle parkour moves!). Questions about the unbelievable endurance of these messengers (to go unbelievable miles without seeming even the least bit fatigued) is better left to the cardiologists of the world - the only thing that seems to stop anyone is getting hit by cars ... accidents they not only survive but pedal away from with ease: send these warriors to Army Ranger training, pronto.
