Quicksilver - Soldi senza fatica

To be honest, it's some years since I saw this movie, so have forgotten most of the story details. However, the film now seems rather obscure and apparently not very well regarded, so I wanted to put in my two cents worth of praise for a movie that, while it may not have been memorable, was certainly entertaining at the time.

The story revolves around a hot shot stock market whiz kid named Jack Casey, who loses not only his own money, but also all his parents' life savings in a failed market deal / stock crash. Devastated by his failure, especially the effect it has on his father, he withdraws completely from the financial world, embarking upon a new career as a bicycle messenger. I enjoyed the unusual theme here, the disillusioned stock broker reverting to a simpler and (supposedly) more carefree lifestyle. Jack befriends his fellow messengers, including a guy, Voodoo, who's involved with delivering the goods for a sleazy drug dealer, and also a girl named Terri, who of course becomes the love interest. Jack and Voodoo plan a bike race, but there's trouble brewing from the drug dealer...

Other plot details? I don't recall them, but Kevin Bacon is adept in the role of Jack, the story catchy enough, and the theme regarding the fleeting nature of wealth always relevant, particularly as related to the stock market. Also, although I'm not personally a cyclist, I quite enjoyed the dashing bicycle sequences, up and down and across the sometimes hilly streets, of (I believe) San Francisco. Don't listen to the naysayers, it's a perfectly entertaining way to spend a couple of hours, and not just for the 1980's nostalgia.

The "Premium Rush" of the 1980's is a source of good entertainment, raises some relevant questions, but it never achieves the magnitude of being too memorable or spectacularly interesting as the 2012 movie was. "Quicksilver" aims at many different directions - social drama, romantic story and some thrills in between - but it isn't fulfilling in any of those, just halfway there while "Premium Rush" which could also be all of those (and incredibly more relevant after 2008's economical crisis), deliver in all those aspects but no, instead is a helluva of entertainment flick which is so much fun to see and tolerate rather than the depressive overtones carried by the picture made during the Reaganomics.

In it, Kevin Bacon plays a successful trader who after losing everything on a bad business (never quite explained what really happened) joins a team of bike messengers, gladly working with them, gaining very little but finding true joy. It all happens in a finger snapping, just like that. The problem comes when he testifies one of his colleagues (Laurence Fishburne) being murdered by a drug dealer who uses their services as messenger to transport merchandising. And wouldn't be a successful 80's movie without a little romance between co-workers Bacon and Jami Gertz, and the main character's chance of redemption and rise back from where he started.

The bike scenes offer a great deal of excitement (specially the race between Fishburne and Bacon), cool to watch, there's good comic relief with Paul Rodriguez character but most of the dramatic subplots are annoying and should be reduced if not cut from the film at all costs; if focused only on the thriller it might be better but the villain is quite obnoxious, not because of the character is more because of a bad performance from the actor. The driven force of "Quicksilver" - and I don't know if this was intentional or not - is that is practically showing how people can be creative in troubled times, finding useful solutions for their problems. Such clichéd positivism was quite alright, if only they didn't took a lot of time after a slow and very depressive beginning that is more inclined to make you turn off the movie than to watch it.

Enjoyable for the majority of moments and because of the soundtrack - specially the Peter Frampton theme played at the opening scene. 7/10

In 'Quicksilver,' Kevin Bacon is a stock market big shot who loses everything and ends up a bicycle messenger. From there, the film can't make up it's mind what on earth it's about. Drug dealers, rival bike riders...they're all here. This film just coasts around for awhile, but there's nothing interesting along the way. About the only thing this film has going for it is it's synthesizer score by Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks.

When I first saw this film in the theater, I really liked it. I rode my bike to work all the time and seeing a film where people rode their bikes for a living was really cool.

Now, as an adult who works as a bike messenger in Honolulu, I still enjoy this film, though there are some downsides I see in it that I didn't see as a teenager.

The worst part of the film is the fact that all the bike messengers at Quicksilver are losers of some kind. One used to work for the mayor, former college professors, a former stock broker, etc All losers for whom the job is just something to fall back on after they failed at their life's pursuit. All looking to get out ASAP.

Some messengers may have gotten into it after failing at something else. But most get into it for the money, excitement and the daily rush of adrenaline.

I wish the movie had shown more adrenaline junkies and fewer losers.

I liked quicksilver and still do today after 20 years of its release date. Instead of looking at Quicksilver as a bunch of losers who ran a bike, I appreciated the kevin Bacon part as a character who suffered from a severe setback, and found in cycling a way to overcome depression and become a loser. The initial scene where he goes on a taxi and paid the taxi driver to race a bike courier, show how fascinated he was by this "alternative life", representing more freedom, athletic performance, and no ties to an office or a company organization. For me this was the main interest of Quicksilver, besides its music, which is quite good.

As a negative point, I regret that none of the characters, followed a different path to its life, as a result of the quicksilver experience, and in fact they all dream of having a regular job, making more money, etc. In fact the script is light, trying to please a large audience, and I think the movie was reasonably successful at the time it was released. I recommend viewing it or buying the DVD.