By Lloyd Bayer
Don’t be misled by the hype and deceiving trailers. Add to that a half-baked script and all you get is a film that fires blanks with occasional gun jamming.
The so called plot begins in Hong Kong, where American expatriate Nick Gant’s experiments with telekinesis are all most always futile. How he got there or what is his agenda in Hong Kong, no body knows, and it is never explained. After escaping from the triads for unsuccessfully using his powers to his advantage at gambling, he is interrogated by agents from a US government organization called the “Division”. Not surprisingly, these agents also possess paranormal abilities. They are looking for a female from the Division and proceed to sniff everything in Nick’s apartment, in an attempt to read his past. After sniffing all but used toilet paper, they realize he has not met her yet. Just as they leave, 13 year old Cassie Holmes walks in and introduces herself as a “watcher”. With the ability to see the future (but not change it), Cassie asks Nick’s help in securing a certain valuable suitcase, and while he’s at it, to help rescue her mother too.
Meanwhile, Kira, the girl everyone is looking for, ends up in Hong Kong too. She is in hot pursuit by Division head, Henry Carver. Carver believes that Kira is the next super soldier after surviving a potentially lethal drug that boosted her paranormal powers of “pushing”, the ability to control and manipulate other people’s actions. Besides her recapture, he also wants the unused power boosting drug she has hidden somewhere in Hong Kong. Pick a number and stand in line Carver, for everybody wants the same drug, including the triads, with their own unbelievably annoying special powers.
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Camilla Belle as Kira Hudson
All images copyright © 2009 Summit Entertainment
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Written by David Bourla, the plot is incoherent with huge pot holes. Starting with an attempt in having viewers believe that experiments inducing paranormal abilities date back to the Nazis during World War II. If the drug boosts super powers, but kills almost anyone using it, why is everyone running around trying to get a fix, above all in Hong Kong?
What he’s trying to say eventually, is that ordinary people have extraordinary abilities, unlike a mutated gene found in super heroes of other movies. On top of that, Bourla even thinks up ludicrous ways of classifying their abilities. “Pushers” can manipulate mind control and even inject new memories. “Wipers” undo all the hard work of a pusher. “Movers” can move things with telekinesis, even stop bullets. “Watchers” can see the future, but cannot change it. “Sniffs” can see a subject’s past and brief future by smelling any used object; call them clairvoyants with a fetish. Then there are “bleeders”, “stitchers”, “changers”, “shifters” and the “shadow”. Something tells me Bourla liked Jumper a lot and wanted to write his own version of just that; a bunch of gifted individuals being chased by an African-American villain.
Now on to director Paul McGuigan; although he does employ some talented actors, the script weighs down heavily on them too. Chris Evans reprises his super hero role but gets beat up in almost every action scene. Camilla Belle as Kira looks drugged and displays no emotion at all. Seems like she secretly pokes herself with the very drug she’s trying to hide. This may well be Dakota Fanning’s coming of age role as Cassie, but if she can see anything at all into the future of her career, her choice in scripts needs to improve. Something else tells me that Fanning might easily fit into Lindsay Lohan’s shoes. By the way, nobody knows what happened to Cassie’s mother in need of rescuing.
Another “pusher”, Djimon Hounsou was a push-over all right. As agent Carver, I really failed to see the menace in what was supposed to be a villainous role. Cameos from Joel Gretsch, Cliff Curtis and Maggie Stiff are watchable at best. McGuigan’s cinematography is exotic and surreal, but at times it seemed like he was experimenting with high noise, adding a lot of grain in low visibility scenes. Another mistake he made was too much time allocated towards character introduction and development. If he was trying to make a movie like X-Men, then it would be advisable to have edited the script, thrown in some original CGI, added a catchy original score, and have shot on various locations.
I would certainly not recommend this film as a must-see. Not even as a seen-before. More like a please don’t-see.
Lloyd Bayer
Comments
Frank Says:
Apr 28, 2009 at 11:54
More Push quotes:
"Did you lose a bet with your hairdresser? "
"Tell me I'm a crappy artist and that everything is going to be fine. "
"Listen to me Nick. Someday a girl is going to give you a flower. You have to help her Nick. Help her, help us all."
"Don't make any decisions a Watcher can track. "
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Everlasting Rose Says:
Jan 18, 2010 at 22:23
Plot holes can always be filled with the directors intentions. Just because it doesn't let you know every last little detail doesn't mean it wasn't there for a purpose.
In the commentary, the director says "I like it when you miss things, it's realistic." or something of the matter.
I thought it was brilliant. I especially like the layering it gives that makes you think.
On the other hand....was I the only one who couldn't hear Chris Evans (Nick) talking in the commentary? |
lavalava Says:
Feb 7, 2010 at 20:10
We saw it in the movie and again last night on dvd. We loved the movie both times and we three can be pretty moody and hyper-critical. Thought the weakest link was Dakota Fanning, actually. She's too protected in real life to be street savvy and was therefore too self conscious and mugging for the camera. It was distracting.
However, we are hoping Push 2 gets funded. We would definitely pay the big bucks to see it. |
