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a mild push Feb 7, 2009 (51 of 62 found this helpful)
PUSH tantalizes you with its premise and its central characters, hooks you in with that promising movie trailer, and then jerks you around like a hot but very mean girlfriend. Given, there's enough of what's cool here to nerd out on, but, ultimately, this paranormal thriller is lacking that sumthin' sumthin'.
In the world of PUSH there are people who possess awesome psychic abilities. And, dating back to World War II and Nazi Germany, clandestine efforts have been made to control and experiment on these extraordinary paranormals. Decades later, and things haven't changed, only now it's a shadowy American government agency, simply called the Division, conducting these tests. There's this drug which is supposed to boost psychic abilities to ridiculous levels. The caveat is that, so far, only one patient has survived the injecting of this drug. And she just scampered the hell out.
The central character is Nick Gant (Evans), trying to keep a low profile in Hong Kong, if by low profile it's meant that Nick gambles with street thugs and uses his feeble telekinesis to influence the outcome of the dice rolls. Nick has been on the run ever since his dad got whacked by Division agents ten years ago. But now sniffers have ferreted out his location. About to amscray the eff out, Nick gets a knock on his door and this is where Dakota Fanning enters the picture and where the main storyline gets going.
13-year-old Cassie Holmes (Fanning) is a clairvoyant, although her talent is wobbly and, being a shaky artist at best, it's sometimes hard to make out what prophetic visions she's sketching on her drawing pad. But she manages to convince Nick to help her locate a mysterious woman and secure her all-important suitcase - of which course of action, Cassie foretells, will save Nick and Cassie's lives and also take down the Division. So off they go, and eventually hook up with Kira (Camilla Belle), the young woman being sought by everyone and also someone who shares a past with Nick. And, yes, Kira is the very one who'd just broken out of the Division facility.
In watching this movie, a grasp of its parlance is a must. PUSH's world is peopled with disparate talents categorized as watchers, pushers, movers, shifters, bleeders, wipers, sniffers, etc. I'll leave it to the movie to go into what the rest of these are, but I will say that Nick is a mover and Cassie is a watcher. Kira is a pusher, which means that she can sneak (or "push") thoughts and even false histories into your mind. The Big Bad is Division's lead agent Henry Carver (a low key, ineffective Djimon Hounsou), a formidable puppet master. Yep, he's a pusher.
In its comic book sensibilities, PUSH has a whiff of X-Men about it, and HEROES, and even David Cronenberg's Scanners (except without that gratuitous visceral touch). Throw in the sometimes dynamic psychic combats, the two appealing leads, and the vibrancy of the Hong Kong backdrop, and you get what's good in the flick. There are several neat moments to savor, whether its Nick and Cassie's skirmish at the fish market with a Chinese crime lord and his psychic family, or the image of Nick and his guns ominously floating above him, Kira's full control of her people marionettes, or, in one of the film's best scenes, a drunk Dakota Fanning (supposedly, imbibing liquor focuses her clairvoyant powers). While Chris Evans (Cellular (New Line Platinum Series), Fantastic Four (Widescreen Edition)) is likeable and does okay as the film's main lead, it won't stun anyone that Fanning steals the scenes and acts circles around everyone on the set (the skimpy characterisations don't help, either). But I dig that brother/younger sister vibe going on between Evans and Fanning. Fanning, by the way, looks to be entering premature babehood. (Mreeow! - What? No? Too young? Okay, fine.)
What PUSH has in flair and premise, it lacks in narrative clarity. The intriguing visual treat
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Push Feb 20, 2009 (43 of 52 found this helpful)
Nick (Evans) is a "mover" - someone who can move things with his mind. He meets up with Cassie (Fanning), a "watcher" - someone who can predict the future. She is trying to rescue her mother from the government, but as they try to piece things together, Kira (Belle) enters their lives. Kira is a "pusher" - someone who can influence others thoughts. She also had a relationship with Nick, and is the only person to survive a power "enhancement" drug that was administered to her by the sinister Company. Now, the Company is after her, and Nick and Kira must help her if they want to survive.
"Push" is a gritty looking superhero movie that is not based on any existing comic book (for a change). It is fast paced and rich in mythology. Evans, who has some experience in these types of movies, is credible as Nick. Fanning, who is great in any movie she appears in, can add action star to her resume. The story is full of backstory, but that does not slow down the almost nonstop action. The gritty look adds to the feel of the film, and works well. "Push" is a surprisingly good film, and I recommend checking it out.
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Loved It Jul 23, 2009 (4 of 4 found this helpful)
I saw this movie in theaters and thought it was awesome.it's got lots of action.i'm a huge fan of dakota fanning.the plot of the movie is really good it keeps you glued to the screen.i'm not a big fan of action movies but this really kept me interrested.
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Enjoy It Jul 26, 2009 (3 of 3 found this helpful)
I like SciFi and Action type films so to no surprise I enjoyed this film. Chris and Dakota did a fantastic job and also I like where the film was shot as you get to see an exotic scenary. I hope that there is a sequel.
I watched it on Blu-Ray so visually I was very pleased and liked the sound system.
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Extra-Sensory Perplexion Jul 3, 2009 (2 of 2 found this helpful)
What's your favorite superpower? My personal favorite is the ability to fly, although x-ray vision and incredible strength are also pretty cool. So are mental powers, namely being able to read people's minds and see into the future. "Push" is a movie that views mental abilities as a curse instead of a blessing, essentially turning the idea of possessing a superpower upside down. While this doesn't make for a particularly good film, it does allow for the viewer to stay somewhat interested all throughout. I say "somewhat" because the story is often times confusing and ultimately unsatisfying; the filmmakers were obviously more interested in developing the neat visuals and convoluted twists more than the characters or the overarching plot. I won't go so far as to say this is a bad film, but it definitely isn't everything it could have been.
The film opens with a voiceover narration provided by teenager Cassie Holmes (Dakota Fanning). She explains that governments have been keeping watch on people with extra-sensory abilities since 1945. There are several ability categories. Movers can manipulate inanimate objects mentally. Pushers can project (or push) memories, thoughts, or emotions into other people's minds. Watchers can see visions of the future. Wipers can temporarily or permanently erase memories. There are also Bleeders, Sniffers, Shifters, Shadows, and Stitchers, although I won't get into them all. Anyway, a prologue sequence shows a man and his young son, both Movers, trying to escape a hotel from an evil government faction known as Division. They, of course, want to capture people with special abilities and perform experiments on them.
The story proper begins ten years later in Hong Kong, where we meet Nick Gant (Chris Evans), a Mover in hiding, having narrowly escaped being captured by Division as a boy. From out of the blue comes Cassie, who, for reasons I simply couldn't believe, managed to fly to Hong Kong and find Nick completely on her own. She's a Watcher, and she claims that she and Nick will find a special suitcase containing $6 million. Nick has no idea what she's talking about and refuses to help her. Then they go through a frenetic chase sequence, at which point Nick remembers something his long-since-dead father told him about a vision he was given by a Watcher. I won't reveal it, but needless to say, Nick now knows he has no choice--he must help Cassie. Unfortunately, she has some bad news: She has had a vision that both she and Nick will die.
What exactly is this building towards? Let's consider the case of a Pusher named Kira (Camilla Bell); while in Division's clutches, she's the subject of an experiment no one else has survived, one involving an injectable serum supposedly meant to augment her powers. Through a series of very unlikely circumstance, she manages to escape, taking with her a suitcase containing a syringe filled with the serum. Now Division has sent a merciless agent named Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou) to retrieve her and the suitcase. He know that Nick and Cassie are somehow involved, which is why he's after them too. So again, what exactly is this building up to? I leave it to you to find out, although I'm hard pressed to say you'll be happy once the film is over.
While "Push" achieves much on level of set design and special effects, it simply doesn't have the story power necessary to stay afloat. As far as the story goes, all it really has to fall back on are a series of clever surprises, each more twisted than the last. This can be overbearing at a certain point, especially in conjunction with a story that was complex to begin with. Moments of comedy relief, which are blessedly few, don't help much. There are scenes, for example, featuring a Shadow named "Pinky" Stein (Nate Mooney), your typical smart aleck. One of the least appealing scenes in this film is of Cassie getting drunk. Apparently, she believes that liquoring herself up wi