Got back a little while ago from seeing Push. Not a bad film, but definitely not as advertised.
If you’ve seen the ads, it’s being billed as “the first real action film of the year” or some such. Let me be the first to tell you, Push is not an action film. It’s got a few very well done action sequences, but they are few and far between. Everything else–most of the film–is relatively complex plot.
What Push is, is a heist/caper film. It’s got more in common with Ocean’s Eleven than it does with Die Hard (or X-Men, for that matter).
Also, this film is obviously supposed to be the first in a series. It tells its own story pretty well–a group of characters coming together to get their hands on some very important stuff that the big bad government organization wants–but the entire point of their actions in this film is so they can be ready for the next challenge: taking down the big bad government organization.
There is a lot of very neat stuff in this movie–the illustration and application of the different classes of abilities are very creative. The telekinetics (Movers) use their powers on par with the Jedi in the newer Star Wars films and video games; the precogs (Watchers) have games and limitations all their own; Sniffers, who can track tune in to the past and present of someone based on their scent, are hard to hide from; Shadows help hide people from Sniffers and, to a lesser extent, Watchers; Shifters, who can transmute objects (for a limited period of time); Bleeders, sonic attacks that just plain melt people’s brains (and break lots of glass); Wipers who can remove memories; Stitches, those with the ability to heal–or harm–with a mere touch of their hands; and, the title character type–Pushers, who can just make you do things.
It’s that titular ability that gets used more effectively in this film than most other places I’ve seen it (Heroes did a good job with Parkman’s father and the X-Files episode Pusher may be the first use of the term in general pop-culture). The subtely and cunning that the two main Pushers in the film wield their wills is both beautiful and terrifying. There is no question how dangerous people with abilities like this could be.
For all the plusses of the film, the negatives are a little difficult to overcome. The main negative being that this is being marketed as an action film. If you go in expecting action, Action, ACTION! you’re going to very, very, very disappointed. That alone could kill the chance for any income after opening weekend.
The second hurdle is that this is obviously the lead in for a series… a risky gamble. If it goes over well, you can get at least two more films out that will maybe break even. If it tanks, you end up with two types of unhappy people–those who feel they wasted their money and those who loved it and are now pissed they won’t be able to get the rest of the story.
The third “minus” is the intricate plotting. Personally, I love it when something has an intricate plot. The rest of the population? Not so much. Even more importantly, an intricate plot that actually works in a frist movie sets the bar kind of high for any sequals. If the the setup done in this film falls apart in the second one (again, if there is a second one), people get very vocally annoyed.
I’d love to have seen this as the pilot to a TV series. Not a viable option with Heroes on the air–the comparissons would be inevitable and detrimental to a TV version of Push, no matter how actually different the worlds are. A weekly series would, by far, be the best way to keep the story going.
With the marketing “bait and switch” in full play, I have my doubts about the chances for follow-up films (let alone good follow-up films), but I’d love to see them made… if for no other reason than to see more of Dakota Fanning’s tween Watcher. The brother/sister dynamic between her and our main Mover, Chris Evans (who’s playing his second super powered character, the first being The Fantastic Four’s Human Torch), is really some of the best non-special effects stuff in the film.
So I say see it, but you don’t have to rush out to see it on the big screen. The action just isn’t there enough to make a full on theater experience necessary.
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