SomeoneMovie Review: Push
August 17th 2009 13:00
Before I begin, I know Push isn't a horror movie, and as such probably doesn't belong here. However, since I am the Alpha and the Omega, I'm gonna go ahead and do it anyway.
Premise: A government agency (The Division) has been experimenting on psychics and turning them into weapons. No one has survived an injection of an experimental drug meant to boost their powers, that is until they inject Camilla Belle, who subsequently survives and escapes with a sample of the drug. It is then up to two rogue psychics to hunt her down and help bring down the Division.
Now, Push does have some interesting ideas. Instead of psychics being all the same, there are different kinds. Watchers see the future; Movers can move stuff with their mind; Pushers can make people believe/do what they want (think Charles Xavier). Sniffs can tell where an object has been and is going to go by sniffing it; the list goes on. Maybe the weirdest are the bleeders, who can release some kind of psychic scream that can shatter glass, make fish explode, and scramble peoples' brains.
I mentioned Charles Xavier above, and I think the parallels with X-Men have to be made. It's about a group of humans, born with special gifts and persecuted by the government. However, where X-Men explores the morality of persecution and tries to make a subtle point about society in general, Push is content to merely use the idea of psychics to make a few cool action scenes, leaving the deeper context unexplored, I feel to the film's detriment.
The idea of precognition is another one that's looked into... however, the way they did it annoyed me. Hear me out: Apparently the watchers can see the future, but they work based on intention. For example, if someone decides to go out the door, the watcher sees them going out the door... Therefore, if you go on the run without making any decisions (ie. Travel without a destination, flip a coin to decide which way to go, etc), then you can avoid being caught.
Is it just me or does that mean they have telepathy rather than precognition? They aren't seeing the future, they are seeing what people decide to do, so basically they're reading their minds.
This is just one little plot hole, and if you look closely you can pick them up all over the place. I'm not going to go into them, because alot of them frustrate me and I'd rather not think about them anymore.
The acting is... well, about what you'd expect from a brainless action movie. Everyone goes through the motions, but none of the characters are easy to engage with. Dakota Fanning is meant to be the tortured innocent child character with huge responsibility thrust upon her, but she just comes across and whining and annoying. I think that's more the script than anything against her, though, she was probably doing the best with what she was given.
Overall... Some cool effects, a couple of neat ideas, all bundled together with an oh-so-predictable story arc and cliched ending. Probably not worth your time, but possibly worth watching if you get really high/drunk beforehand.
Premise: A government agency (The Division) has been experimenting on psychics and turning them into weapons. No one has survived an injection of an experimental drug meant to boost their powers, that is until they inject Camilla Belle, who subsequently survives and escapes with a sample of the drug. It is then up to two rogue psychics to hunt her down and help bring down the Division.
Now, Push does have some interesting ideas. Instead of psychics being all the same, there are different kinds. Watchers see the future; Movers can move stuff with their mind; Pushers can make people believe/do what they want (think Charles Xavier). Sniffs can tell where an object has been and is going to go by sniffing it; the list goes on. Maybe the weirdest are the bleeders, who can release some kind of psychic scream that can shatter glass, make fish explode, and scramble peoples' brains.
I mentioned Charles Xavier above, and I think the parallels with X-Men have to be made. It's about a group of humans, born with special gifts and persecuted by the government. However, where X-Men explores the morality of persecution and tries to make a subtle point about society in general, Push is content to merely use the idea of psychics to make a few cool action scenes, leaving the deeper context unexplored, I feel to the film's detriment.
The idea of precognition is another one that's looked into... however, the way they did it annoyed me. Hear me out: Apparently the watchers can see the future, but they work based on intention. For example, if someone decides to go out the door, the watcher sees them going out the door... Therefore, if you go on the run without making any decisions (ie. Travel without a destination, flip a coin to decide which way to go, etc), then you can avoid being caught.
Is it just me or does that mean they have telepathy rather than precognition? They aren't seeing the future, they are seeing what people decide to do, so basically they're reading their minds.
This is just one little plot hole, and if you look closely you can pick them up all over the place. I'm not going to go into them, because alot of them frustrate me and I'd rather not think about them anymore.
The acting is... well, about what you'd expect from a brainless action movie. Everyone goes through the motions, but none of the characters are easy to engage with. Dakota Fanning is meant to be the tortured innocent child character with huge responsibility thrust upon her, but she just comes across and whining and annoying. I think that's more the script than anything against her, though, she was probably doing the best with what she was given.
Overall... Some cool effects, a couple of neat ideas, all bundled together with an oh-so-predictable story arc and cliched ending. Probably not worth your time, but possibly worth watching if you get really high/drunk beforehand.
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