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Friday, February 6, 2009
Snazzy visuals give ‘Push’ its pull
I saw Push only two days ago, but if you were to ask me exactly what it was about, I couldn’t tell you. I’m not sure I could have told you immediately after seeing it. And yet much of it still lingers in my memory.
The film is basically a low-rent version of X-Men crossed with last year’s Jumper, only with much grimier scenery. It’s not as effective as X-Men, but it is the movie that Jumper tried and failed to be at about this time last year: a sci-fi action thriller about people with super powers that cause more pain than glory.
The central figure is Nick (Chris Evans) a “mover” (a fancy way of saying telekinetic) who tries to hide in Hong Kong from the nasty supers who are after him. Cassie (Dakota Fanning) is a “watcher,” or someone who can foretell the future. She recruits Nick to retrieve a mysterious suitcase that has something to do with a girl Nick once loved named Kira (Camilla Belle). She’s a “pusher,” or someone who can control people with their mind.
I think that’s the deal, anyway. It sort of made sense while I was watching it, but I’m not so sure now. Still, the key phrase here is “while I was watching it.” This is a movie that lives very much in the moment, and that’s due mainly to the skills of director Paul McGuigan.
I haven’t seen McGuigan’s other movies, which include Lucky Number Slevin and Wicker Park, but Push showed me he has an imaginative eye, especially for staging action. The fights in this movie deliver, particularly in scenes involving the “movers” and their ability to levitate guns.
Some of the effects work is chintzy, but McGuigan overcomes that with slick editing and vertiginous camerawork. It’s enough to make me really want to see what McGuigan can do with a decent script. In that way, Push reminds me of Shoot ‘Em Up, another film with a silly screenplay but a sharp visual sense. I say hand the next James Bond movie to McGuigan, who could rescue the series from the frenzied mess that was Quantum of Solace.
McGuigan isn’t the only asset Push can boast. Evans (the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four films) has a strong presence, and Djimon Hounsou is intense as usual playing the heavy. The weak link in the cast is Belle, a pretty actress, but an emotional blank. I actually thought Evans had better chemistry with Fanning, who has fun playing a precocious, haunted smart-aleck.
I’m not sure even the film’s screenwriter, David Bourla, could make heads or tails of the plot. As a piece of storytelling, the movie isn’t much. However, as an action flick, Push has a powerful shove.
GRADE: B
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