Print PUSH DVD Review

“Push” is a Sci-Fi/Superhuman film about people born with various psychic abilities. These manifest in a number of different ways: Pushers can influence the minds of others; Movers can move objects with their minds; Watchers have a clairvoyant ability to see the future; Sniffers can pickup a person’s scent off items which are decades old and track them; Bleeders can emit an ear-wrenching scream the can shatter objects and ear drums; and Shadows can effectively block the abilities of others, such as Watchers and Sniffers within a small proximity and render people he’s close to effectively invisible…A brief prolog shows a little boy whose father is killed by agents from something known as “Division” led by Henry Carver.

Years later the boy, Nick Grant (Chris Evans), is now grown up and living in Hong Kong , using his mover ability to gamble at dice. He meets Cassie (Dakota Fanning), a 13-year old Watcher who wants Nick’s help to find a case worth millions. Meanwhile agents from Division are pursuing the case and a Nick’s old girlfriend, Kira, a Pusher, who was the first person to survive a Division experiment which can augment a psychic’s powers. She promptly escaped along with a case containing the drug. Nick is now trying to protect Kira from Division as well as an opposition group of Hong Kong Psychics, including a pair of Bleeder brothers who want the case for their own uses.

“Push” has so many things going on in it that it’s easy to get lost, rather than immersed in the storyline. As Watchers can see into the future they are always one step ahead of our fleeing group of heroes. Nick’s plan is to constantly forget what their plans are, using a Wiper to erase their short-term memories and then re-group. It’s all a tad to frenetic and the film barely has time to catch its breath from one chase to the next. That’s a good thing because with the exception of Cassie, they get zero character development. How did they all end up in Hong Kong ? What exactly is Division? Were they all born with their powers? Presumably but anything would be little more than an assumption. Chris Evans is a likable lead although he’s not terribly charismatic which serves him in his reluctant hero’s role here. Dakota Fanning was enjoyable as an “old” 13 year old, seemingly worn down by life and her troubling future.

On the plus side, the powers and the special effects used to display them, particularly the ability of the movers is well done. In particular there is Nick’s battle with a rival Division Mover inside a restaurant that is one of the film’s true highlights. There’s obvious influence from comic books here, notably the X-Men and certainly a bit borrowed from TV’s “Heroes” as well. It’s a superhero film without the fluff and without spandex. Not great, but a fun bit of diversion and worthy of a sequel. I

The Science behind the Fiction (9:15) is a featurette about psychic powers and real life experimentation by the Nazis during WWII and the Russians throughout the Cold War, as well as U.S. experimentation as well.

Mania Grade: B-
DVD: Push
Rating: PG-13
Starring: Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle
Written By: David Bourla
Directed By: Paul McGuigan
Distributor: Summit Home Entertainment
Original Year of Release: 2009
Extras: Commentary, Featurette
Series:

PUSH DVD Review (Mania.com)