Push Movie Review

MOVIE REVIEW: PUSH

02/04/09

SYNOPSIS: A riveting action-thriller, Push burrows deep into the deadly world of psychic espionage where artificially enhanced paranormal operatives have the ability to move objects with their minds, see the future, create new realities and kill without ever touching their victims. Against this setting, a young man and a teenage girl take on a clandestine agency in a race against time that will determine the future of civilization.

REVIEW: Pushers, movers, watchers, and sniffers sound like different characters in a drug dealing gang, but it isn’t. These are labels given to human beings that have special “powers”, as opposed to Professor X, the Phoenix, Wolverine, Storm, and Magneto. Yes there are some similarities to the X-Men comics but this seems more novel than comic book, more human and real than superhero and supernatural. These people that are “different” are being hunted down by a government agency, Division, in order to exploit their powers for the government. Sounds like a typical plot, but this version is more down and dirty as well as somber. If you don’t join them, you die . . . basically lab rats. This story is more intelligent than your typical “people with super powers” movies and therefore refreshing but at the same time by trying to be more dramatic and not be all about the action, it was kind of slow at times. But whatever action it did have was really good. The special effects were amazing. The plot was smart and thrilling with decent twists. It is not very common for a movie of this type to make the audience think as much as this one does. Even though some parts of the movie are a little corny, overall this movie is worth the watch.

It does help that this film is headlined by Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, and Djimon Hounsou. Chris is really proving that he can be a leading man in a film. He handles sci-fi flicks very well and he can act too. What can I say about Dakota? In my opinion, she is one of the best child performers of our time, or maybe it’s “was” and not “is” because she is growing up. The sky’s the limit for her. This was not a usual role for her and she did just fine. Djimon is probably one of the more underrated performers in the market. Usually working in supporting roles, he has a knack for giving his characters an extra edge that really takes it over the top. Remember him in Gladiator, the Island, Blood Diamond, or how about Constantine? Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. And of course, you also have the lovely Camilla Belle. You might remember her last from the movie 10,000 B.C. She did pretty good too.

The backdrop for this motion picture was appropriate; the overpopulated Hong Kong. A good choice if you are looking to hide. The crowded apartment buildings, the impressive skyline, the night lights, and the waterways are all well captured to add to the effect of the movie. The major contributors, however, to the effect of this movie have got to be the plot and the special effects. Did I mention that the special effects were very cool? Director Paul McGuigan is on a roll; The Reckoning, Wicker Park, Lucky Number Slevin, and now this one. This film was up his ally and he did a fine job with it. I thought Hancock was a different kind of superhero movie. Well I’m glad to see that it’s not the only one.