After "Push" ended I heard a fellow audience member give a rather coarse critique of the film's conclusion, but one which mirrored my own opinion. Either the filmmakers packed so much story into one movie that they wrote themselves into an anticlimactic corner, or "Push" is the first film in a planned series. Or maybe they wrote themselves into a corner and figured they could just make a sequel and deal with all the unresolved events later. The movie is ultimately unsatisfying. But you know what? I kind of admire the filmmakers for the sort of giddy zeal that they surely had in trying to build an epic saga. Unfortunately, a $40 million movie making $10 million on its opening weekend does not bode well for the beginning of a franchise.
Filmmakers should take note that the audience will not stand half-ending ellipses unless we are comfortably reassured by the notion that a sequel has already been made and will in fact be arriving "in a theater near you" in the near future. Remember "The Golden Compass"? Its makers cut out the whiz-bang ending that would have brought the film to a suitable conclusion, thinking the note was too scary to go out on for kids. Now, with no sequel in the works, the ending, fully special-effected and such, lives in some studio purgatory, never to bee seen by likes of us. Again, filmmakers, take note: a cliffhanger where someone jumps into a crackling void to another dimension is infinitely better than a cliffhanger where someone remarks, "Hey I wonder what's going to happen when we see the crackling void to another dimension?"
Back to "Push." This film tells the story of a few individuals with powerful psychic abilities and an amoral government agency's attempts to capture them, kill them, conduct experiments on them, what have you. Chris Evans (the Silver Surfer from "The Fantastic Four") plays Nick, a young man with telekinetic powers (a "mover") hiding out in Hong Kong. He tries to make ends meet by using his powers to cheat at Triad dice games. Alas, he is not very good at "moving" and is frequently beaten to a pulp. Enter Dakota Fanning as Cassie, who is a "watcher" -- someone who can see the future. I will not divulge many details, because it would probably make your head spin, but she informs Nick that they must find a girl with a briefcase.
Now, this girl with a briefcase is Kira (Camilla Belle), who is a "pusher" -- someone who can "push" thoughts into someone else's head and make them do anything they want. While being held captive by Division, the amoral government agency, she is the only person to survive an injection of a power-amplifying drug for psychics. She escapes, Division wants her back, and Carver (Djimon Hounsou, another "pusher") is in charge of finding her. But -- wouldn't you know it? -- Carver also happened to kill Nick's father back in the day, and Nick is understandably still angry.
I was pleasantly surprised by the characters and performances in "Push". Chris Evans is a good-looking guy who is easily able to project confidence. In his work I've noticed that he's quite talented at giving his characters a certain flustered vulnerability, as well as a sense of humor. I have only seen Camilla Belle in "10,000 BC", and she shows here that when given better material, she can be a strong female lead. Dakota Fanning's character is probably the best-written role in the film, as the filmmakers seriously try to imagine what a thirteen year-old girl who sees recurrent visions of her own death would actually be like. Fanning, of course, is able to pull off the appropriately self-assured, cynical girl who can see the future, and also the scared little kid who may die at any moment.
As I've said earlier, it seems like they packed too much story into one movie. While that complicates the ending of the film, I can appreciate the imagination that went into creating its wide world. Various other psychic powers are alluded to and revealed as we become acquainted with the underground world of the people with these abilities. How many psychics are there? Do they know each other? We get some fleeting glimpses at answers, but nothing definite. The addition of a rival Chinese government agency fighting both Nick and Division increases the scope of film's world, answering some questions and prompting us to ask some more. Do most countries have secret psychic police? Are they always covertly at war with other nations.
"Push" introduces us to this interesting universe, but what completely kills an otherwise tolerable ending is the fact that the film doesn't clarify or follow rules for the psychic powers in its universe. Consider this: at one point Nick and friends have to put into motion a plan to fight Division, but the thing is, any plan they make can potentially be seen by enemy "watchers." But wait! Cassie tells us that "watchers" don't see the future necessarily, but people's intentions. If they can come up with a plan where they don't know what they're doing then maybe they can outwit the "watchers," but of course that is nonsensical. I won't say what their plan is, but I will say that it still involves everyone having intent. The filmmakers are arbitrarily changing the rules of their world, so we can't play along or admire the characters' cunning, and the large chunk of the film that devotes itself to their plan ends up feeling like a waste of time. Also, if "watchers" only see intent, then how can they see that someone will die, as they do in the movie? Just because you intend to kill someone doesn't mean you'll succeed. I should, however, compliment the action sequences in the movie, as they are coherent and competently made, and that is becoming a rarity in action films these days. This, I might add, is another movie that stretches PG-13 violence to its limits (who knew being impaled through the neck with a bamboo shoot would be such a clean experience?).
"Push" has potential, but with its ending and its inconsistencies is just too frustrating to be completely enjoyable, so I can't recommend it.
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