Plot A concept that can be glibly described as X-Men with psychics, the film revolves around people with an array of incredible powers, which can rather handily be summed up by single verbs. Movers are telekinetic, able to move things with their will alone. Watchers see images of the future and the titular Pushers are able to bend you to their will and place thoughts and impulses into your mind.
Review You can’t fault Paul McGuigan’s ambition: not only has he made a superhero movie on a kitchen-sink budget, but he’s done it in the faraway climes of Hong Kong. And he’s created a mythology to match: this film heaves with casually referenced backstory and has an ending that screams for further instalments. Whether its less-than-stellar US opening will kill those hopes remains to be seen, but you’ve got to hope that there’ll be an X2 to this X-Men.
The film opens with a hefty wedge of exposition, Dakota Fanning’s Cassie taking the heavy lifting of explaining the premise. There are psychically powered people in the world, with different talents: telekinetic ‘Movers’; prophetic ‘Watchers’; tracker ‘Sniffers’; and ‘Pushers’, who can ‘push’ thoughts into your brain. A government agency recruits or monitors anyone with these powers, and is also experimenting with a potentially dangerous formula that will either boost your powers or kill you. Cassie is on the run; she’s looking for Chris Evans’ Nick, a ‘Mover’ who tries to stay below the radar and doesn’t want to get involved. Cue, of course, involvement.
This mass of premise established, the film begins a zippy and entertaining first act, introducing us to eccentric characters like Cliff Curtis’ scene-stealing ‘Shifter’ (he can shapeshift objects) and Djimon Hounsou’s sinister Pusher Carver, while Cassie and Nick band together and start seeking out allies. Fanning sinks her teeth into a punk-edged, more grown-up role than we’ve seen from her before, setting her course for a post-adolescent career, while Evans once again demonstrates why he should be a bigger star, with a perfectly calibrated mix of heroic enthusiasm and cynical detachment. Hounsou’s a properly chilling bad guy, leaving Belle’s rather ineffectual character as the main weak link.
Things slow down in the middle, as Evans and Fanning wander around a beautifully shot HK to a thumping soundtrack that can’t quite disguise the fact that the pair are aimlessly waiting for prophecy to strike. The third act, by contrast, gets positively dizzying, with one of those elaborate plans that seems to work seamlessly but doesn’t make much sense when you think about it. Still, this is a worthy attempt at a new comic-book mythology.
Verdict Kinetic and convincing, this uses a limited budget to thrilling effect, giving us a sort of X-Men-meets-Trainspotting twist. We hope a sequel follows this early promise.
I really really cant tell you how bad this film is .
I had high hopes but McGuigan is too busy trying to be one of the Scott brothers and fails to make the movie interesting.
I have lost 2 hours of my life which i cant get back .
Terrible 1/10 ... Read More
Push has a very strange plot, one minute you understand what's going on and the next it fizzes into confusion. It has some great special effects, the X-men like powers and a cast of upcomers to look out for in the future. But it's the ending that really disappointed me, it did scream sequels but why did it leave you feeling a little annoyed? The setting of Hong Kong is amazing, the thundering music in the background goes well to the film and it looks awesome on Blu-Ray. Now the pefomances are ok... Read More
I'm guessing the limited budget forced them to cut down the action scenes a bit (the bamboo fight should have been longer). Solid acting compensate for a dull middle section. Sure the plot is confusing, but all the pieces are there to figure it out. Overall it was an intresting movie at the higher end of three stars, hopefully there will be a sequal and hopefully they will sort out the pacing problems. ... Read More
I found it to be mostly forgettable and didn't really find myself getting into it - I had been excited about it after seeing the trailer but was a little underwhelmed. ... Read More
The concept alone here is exciting stuff and, judging by the trailer, this looked like great fun, with a couple of well handled and innovative action sequences. But,. Every time our duo, who soon become a threesome, meet an obstacle that proves difficult, they either discover a new power, or go to a random character with the ability to solve their conundrum. This happens more than once, and feels like someone trying to fix a convoluted . Director McGuigan does a solid job on the action , and has... Read More
Slow, dull, uninvolving and despite solid performances from the leads and a few decent set pieces, it was just a case of seen it all before. The second act almost had me dozing off and dreaming of ice cream.
2/5 ... Read More
Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning excellent as usual. Film on a whole was entertaining, but felt more like the opening chapter to a much lager saga. Would have liked to have seen more of Cliff Curtis's 'Shifter' and less of the rather dull Camilla Bell, who I just didn't care about at all. Would hope that the sequal would up the tempo a bit, but most likely this is gonna end up a one off. Shame really as could be quite a good series. ... Read More
Classic
Excellent
Good
Fair
Tragic
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