Rating of
1/4
Save Yourself Two Hours: Don't Watch This Film
JLFM - wrote on 05/06/12
What a mess! Push is easily one of the worst action films I've ever seen! Between flat and unlikable characters to dull action, Push gets just about everything wrong. It's campy, it's silly, and painfully un-watchable.
Push is much more confusing than it needs to be. In the end, it's just about a group of people trying to get a case before the "bad guys" get it. Put less simply, it's about people with a range of psychic abilities who are in a race against The Division (a powerful government that "rules" these superior beings) to find a case that contains a "billion dollar secret." The plot makes much less sense on film.
In specific, the plot follows a man named Nick (Chris Evans), who is just out of his teen years, and still doesn't really have a good grip on his ability (levitation). He meets a girl named Cassie (Dakota Fanning) who convinces him (sort of) to join her on a quest to find the case. Cassie herself is a "watcher," someone who can see into the future. She draws what she sees, and based on what she sees, Cassie and Nick may not survive this adventure.
As I mentioned previously, the plot is much more complicated on film.
None of the abilities in Push are very cool, and none are very original. We get people who can levitate, people who can see into the future, people who can control your mind, etc. These are all things we've seen before. Been there, done that.
The one new ability that Push has made is....screaming. Yes, believe it or not, Push's only innovative ability is the ability to scream. Granted, it's a scream that can destroy structures, people, etc., but in the end, it's just some creepy Asian guy screaming like a maniac. It's stupid and campy. And as if that wasn't bad enough, there are THREE villains with this ability.
Push also doesn't know what kind of a movie it wants to be. Does it want to be a light, comedic action flick? A hard, heavy, end of the world film? Maybe an intelligent heist film? Push, unsuccessfully, attempts to do all three. As if I have to say it; this really doesn't work.
The acting, though not awful, never gets much better than mediocre. And early on, the acting even seems a little clunky.
As if Push isn't already bad off, it also suffers from an overwhelming number of obvious plot holes. And there is little characters development, if any. Most of the characters don't even have a definitive personality.
The action scenes are usually brief, with no actual fights occurring. Just someone getting beat up, with a victor we can already predict. There are few exceptions. During the end, we get a long, action filled climax, but it's more tedious than exciting.
And beware, the ending is a major cop-out.
The one positive thing I can say about Push (aside from it's vaguely unique premise), is it's skilled editing. It shows snippets of future events than goes back to the past. The editing is just very well done, I'll give it that.
Push is campy, tedious, cheesy, confusing, and stupid. It tries to be three different films at once, and character development is omitted entirely. Plot holes abound, action scenes are dull. Outside of camp value, Push has few redeeming qualities.
