Push: the Movie of Verbs
Pushers, Movers, Watchers, Sniffs; ignore the less-than-stellar Rotten Tomatoes scores and settle in for an original sci-fi flick.
A few weeks back I reviewed a stinker of a movie called Jumper, which can be read here if a little Hayden Christensen hate is just the thing to brighten your day.Christensen In that review, I recommended you watch Push if you wanted a good one-off sci-fi flick. I recently re-watched Push to see if it held up to my earlier assessment, and I’m pleased to report it does.
Released in 2009, Push stars a post-Fantastic Four, pre-Captain America Chris Evans as Nick, the son of a psychic who is psychic himself. Chris is a Mover, a telekinetic with the power to do everything from control dice to stop bullets. Nick lives in Hong Kong when he’s discovered by the Division (standard shadowy government organization types). The Division are looking for Kira (Camilla Belle), who escaped from their facility with a powerful drug. The Division want Kira back. Cassie (Dakota Fanning) wants to find Kira whom she believe will lead her to a rich payoff. The Chinese Triad (who have their own psychics at their disposal) want to find Kira for their own aims. Once Nick finds Kira, he attempts to keep her safe and enlists the help of all his psychic friends in the expat community to defeat both the Division and the Triad.
Dakota Fanning is not impressed with Captain America.
Push has been generally negatively reviewed, with criticisms aimed at the jumbled script and the messy cinematography. While director Paul McGuigan takes a chance on an original story, he doesn’t offer a whole lot of groundbreaking cinematography here, relying instead on tried-and-true techniques such as a teal/orange color scheme. Despite its flaws, I still think Push is worthy of attention. Filmed entirely on location in Hong Kong, the scenes are beautifully shot, and the movie juxtaposes its Asian setting with its Western conspiracy plot. The ensemble cast also meshes well with other, and the talent doesn’t distract from the story. At this point in their careers, Dakota Fanning and Djimon Hounsou were arguably more famous than Chris Evans, but no one was such a household name that their mere presence took me out of the film. (This was my biggest problem with Jumper: Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson were bigger than the movie).
I’m one of those moviegoers who doesn’t find too much deeper meaning in movies; I prefer my entertainment to be as close to the surface as possible. But something struck me about Push. While the expat community are not all Western, they are all foreign, and the way they banded together in the face of danger struck a chord with me. By setting the story entirely in Hong Kong, Push has that unfamiliar feel to it, similar to the opening sequence of Edward Norton’s The Incredible Hulk (which may have been the best part of that particular film, but that’s an argument for another post).
While Push was never going to win any awards, it successfully told an original story in an engaging way, and for that I can forgive a lot. The movie hits you right away with the many different psychics (Movers, Watchers, Bleeders), but it does so in an easy-to-grasp manner that lets you accept the world for what it is and enjoy the story. While I caught more plot holes on the re-watch (like how can Bleeders direct their attacks and not hurt themselves in the process?), Push’s flaws didn’t distract from its storytelling, which is sometimes the best one can hope for.
tl;drs
Blank is a blanker version of blank: Push is Firestarter set in Hong Kong and replacing Drew Barrymore with Dakota Fanning.
Screen credits over/under: Under; one guy has the lone writing credit. Oddly enough that writer is David Bourla, who is more known for directing Bat Thumb than he is writing anything of note.
Recommended if you like: Any movie where a shadowy government agency tries to bury its creations.
Better than I expected: The intro, with its quick explanation of the different strains of psychic abilities, was all I needed to dive right in to the world.
Worse than I hoped: The film drags a bit, and the ending gives you the feeling the writers were hoping for a sequel, which so far has yet to appear.
Push would work better as a(n): I wouldn’t have minded a few sequels, or a television series that explored the backstory of its characters.
Verdict: Better-than-average one-shot sci-fi film, driven by the strength of its ensemble cast.
