Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dania Ramirez, Michael Shannon

Directed By: David Koepp

A fairly good action – suspense film, the entire plot is based on bike messengers in New York City who rush from one end of the city to another to deliver small envelopes that are time bound by the hour.

We have Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who was voted New York’s best bike messenger three times in a row, zipping in and out of Manhattan traffic, bringing pedestrian and vehicular traffic to near collision course, all this because he refuses to put brakes on his bike. Whether it's grabbing onto the side of a taxicab, doing flips down the staircases, plowing into a baby stroller or whizzing past over cars and pedestrians at a crowded Times Square intersection, he gets his job done endangering his life, all for a few extra bucks working for Security Courier. But his job takes a turn for the worse after he picks up an envelope, his last for the day, which contains confidential information, which attracts the interest of a car bound cop Bobby (Michael Shannon), who pursues Wilee throughout the city. Not only is Bobby after him, a bike cop too is hot on the trail to nab Wilee for traffic offences.

Among all this, are small sub plots of Wilee who is romantically linked to his bike messenger girlfriend, Vanessa (Dania Ramirez) with whom he has just broken up, his fight to outdo a muscle-bound rival, Manny (Wolé Parks) to take on new assignments due to his speed and skill in navigating New York's obstacle-heavy, car-laden network.

The scenes of the bike messengers zooming around a maze of streets, is extremely well-shot and viscerally thrilling; infact director David Koepp employs a fun technique of freezing Wilee right before he makes a decision, playing out various scenarios if Wilee goes left or right, or head on into a crash. The bonus features give you a peek on the making of the film and lots more.

Rating: ****

Reviewed By Verus Ferreira