Push Review

‘Push’ Should be Shunned

-----‘Push’ is the story of people with special abilities…who aren’t superheroes. They just have the same exact powers. Apparently, there has been many of these special individuals throughout history that have been abused in labs as test subjects in a secret facility run by an organization known as the “Division”, whether they’re “pushers” (ability to control peoples minds), “movers”(telekinetic abilities), “sniffers”(ability to track people with their scent, no drug abuse implied), etc. “Mover” Nick Gant (Chris Evans) has been hiding from the evil government organization all his life after witnessing their murder of his father. One day he is confronted by a “watcher” (ability to see the future) who tells him the two of them will die if they don’t do…something. To save themselves they’ll have to find a certain “pusher” named Kira Hudson (Camilla Belle) who has escaped the Division labs where she was the first to survive a power-enhancing drug taken against her will. Oddly enough, Gant has a past with her as an old flame. Throughout their journey they are pursued by the evil Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou). Carver is a, “pusher” himself, and yet somehow on the government’s team and not a lab rat. The basic plot is a poorly constructed story about powered people on the run.

-----Chris Evans is fairly engaging as the light but intelligent Nick Gant. His charisma and knack for action is about all this film has on its side. Regrettably, the supposed romance with Kira is never effectively explored nor is their past validated, so you basically have no reason to believe they even know each other except for the words continuously coming out of their mouths. Their lack of chemistry, screen time together, and the overall weak script make it impossible for the audience to gain any ground in terms of their relationship.

-----While I’ve never been a huge Dakota Fanning fan (no pun intended), I think it’s agreeable that her character Cassie Holmes is plain and simple, weird. Playing a 13 year old with the mind set of a nonchalant woman in her thirties, she constantly strives to carry scenes that seem to bounce back and fourth from a child’s lines to bizarre motivations that don’t sell at all. Her character should have been thought out a little more and a little better. I don’t think the film should have gone for the Fanning-Evans relationship, because it’s somewhere in that gray area between father-daughter and buddy-comedy. It’s pretty much just weird. Djimon Hounsou plays the villain we’ve become accustom to from him, but unfortunately never gets enough screen time or explanation to make me care about or hate him much at all. Why was he evil? He killed some people but pretty much everyone in the movie did. All in all the cast was a somewhat odd mix of talent that never really meshed.

-----The problem with this film falls primarily on the weak script and plot. What was the point? I felt like I was supposed to read some sort of pamphlet on the characters back history before coming to see it. I never really knew why anyone hated each other except for that they verbalized they did. All of the history behind the ominous, “Division” and Nick Gant’s past love is portrayed as common knowledge between the characters and never actually explored. In the end, I never really cared much what happened to any of them because I felt disconnected from them. I mean, why were these X-Men rip-offs really around, where did they come from? The most the audience gets is a short narrative in the beginning that we’re supposed to base the whole movie off of. On top of this laundry list of problems, the pacing was weird, with many scenes ultimately worthless. The film was never allowed to get its legs under it, and the characters were never actively developed.

-----From a technical standpoint, the effects were disappointing. In a film about people with psychic powers, the effects should be good enough to carry some quality sci-fi action sequences. There is very little of this in the film and many scenes seem tailored to avoid any effects and wild action. This can be used in a positive manor with camera angles and tricks that can even work to the film’s advantage, leaving something to the imagination. While with ‘Push’ it all seems dutiful and cheap. The guns especially, whether actual props or floating by way of telekinesis, just looked off. They didn’t seem to be the size or carry the look of weapons we’ve seen a million times before in movies. Mercifully, there were some well directed moments in the film; perhaps trivial, but at least cool looking. For instance, about every half hour there will be a good choice of song, followed by Chris Evans walking determinedly but casually down a hallway towards you as the camera as is smoothly backed up. Like I said, a bit trivial but they did help develop a mood and create a character with a certain suave and coolness to him that momentarily revives your interest in the film.

-----‘Push’ never lets you in the story, so when it ends you feel nonchalant and don’t really care what happened. The ending itself is rather odd to say the least, with the main characters kind of casually achieving the goal of their situation while the viewer vaguely knows or even cares about their ultimate motives. Add a somewhat harsh last few lines by one of the softer characters in this film, and you may even find yourself at times more connected with the films villain than its’ leads. The film doesn’t even provide ample action! Instead it leaves a bunch of clues that are used but never connected, and are instead just convenient plot pieces. All in all you’ll start to drift off mentally about one third in to the movie. You’ll be upset with the confusing plot that goes nearly nowhere and you’ll probably be wondering if you missed the first 30 minutes of the film. It’s unoriginal, incoherent, and a waste of two hours. Stay home and sleep.

Official Trailer