Push

When Push ended, my theater applauded. I don’t know why. They were the stupidesst theater going crowd I had been apart of in a long while, but if I had to guess, that’s the demographic Push is going for. The last time I remember an audience clapping was at the end of The Dark Knight, and it goes without saying that Push is not on TDK’s level (but then again, what is?). While they were clapping, I walked out of the theater trying to figure out exactly what I just saw.

Let’s dispense with all of the comments about how Push is just a rip-off of X-Men or Heroes. I could make the argument that Heroes in itself is a rip-off ofX-Men, so to compare Push to both of them is beating a dead horse, but I digress. After Hackner’s X3 disappointed so many, and after the plot-hole ridden course on which Heroes has recently embarked, I was completely open to the idea of someone else talking about super-humans in a new way. I’m the first to admit, I love comics and the idea of people with powers. Hell, I’ve even sat around trying to move the clicker to me with my mind so I wouldn’t have to get off the couch Sadly, Push is unfulfilling and I’ll be looking for someone else to try the super-human genre.

Push takes place somewhere in Asia, possibly Hong Kong, but you get the idea. This setting provides a great visual backdrop to set the story and a complete change from everything else we’ve seen in these types of movies. There is also a grittiness and realism to the filmmaking that really helps establish these super-humans in the real world, something that X-Men andHeroes have never truly accomplished (I’m looking at you Magneto, with that helmet of yours). Another key difference is the super-humans themselves. Unlike the other incarnations where there was a varying array of powers that were occasionally repeated, Push creates nine categories to which all of the characters fall into: movers, pushers, watchers, shifters, wipers, sniffs, bleeders, shadows, and stitchers. We’ve seen some of these powers before (telekinesis, clairvoyance) but the film does them in new ways that are enjoyable and very cool. For example, when the bleeders use their super-sonic shriek, not only does it break the glass of the fish tanks, the fish themselves actually pop. There is also a shootout between two movers in which neither of one of the is holding a gun, but rather hiding behind cover and controlling the weapons with their minds.

The cast was also really good. Chris Evans is a legit action star and Djimon Honsou has that “antagonist with what he believes are good intentions” down pat. He would have been my favorite part of the movie, if not for Dakota Fanning. The movie is almost worth seeing just to see her act drunk and say “shit”. There is also that character who actor who always plays either a Mexican or an Arab, and I have no idea what his true ethnicity is, and in this film, he’s British, so I’m just baffled. (UPDATE: This actor’s name is Cliff Curtis and he’s actually from New Zealand. What the hell?!)

You won’t get a complaint out of me about the action scenes in this movie. They were exactly what I expected and I enjoyed them thoroughly. WherePush falls apart is the plot. Now, maybe you’re thinking, “This is an action movie. How can you be so concerned about plot?” The simple answer to this is that although Push markets itself as an action film, it wants to be and tries to be so much more. Instead of taking all of the good elements I’ve mentioned and put them with a simple story, Push tries to be a genre-breaker. It wants to be a super-human action film, that also smart and makes you think. The problem with this is that the plot isn’t good. I know that the story has something to do with a case that has a new, experimental drug in it and everyone wants it. It should be a simple story, but they tell it in a such a convulated way that you don’t care anymore. The writers try to leave the audience in the dark and mislead them, so that the twists really hit home. The writers say twists, I say plot holes. The real problem is that this film wants to be smart, so it skimps on the action, and leaves us with a plot that after 30 seconds of thinking about, makes no sense. The climax of the movie, although visually stunning (come on, a mover stopping all the bullets coming at him while throwing people off the top of a building with his mind= awesome), is so anti-climatic in terms of story it’s unbelievable. Maybe that’s why the audience liked it so much. They thought they were getting a smart action film that was blowing their minds, while I was stuck seeing all the strings.

Gun to my head, I would not recommend you go see Push. Actually, I’d say see it, but only if you like the idea of super-humans and could see it for free. It’s certainly not worth paying for. I won’t begrudge anyone who likes this film, just be prepared to defend the plot if you ever meet me.