Lost In The Shuffle
posted on Thursday, February 12, 2009 in Movie Reviews
Push comes into the theaters with a severe handicap: it’s a movie about people with superpowers being chased by a government agency. Five years ago, that would’ve been all right, but today there’s a sense of weariness about the whole thing that just drags the movie down. Adding another world and another mythology, particularly a convoluted one, to geek cinema lore just doesn’t seem like a great idea. But there are interesting things being done in this movie, stuff that will sadly be forgotten as this movie gets lost in the shuffle. Push feels pretty forgettable right now, though it’s probably okay in the long run. In the movie’s world, a handful of people have developed superhuman abilities. An American government agency called the Division is trying to weaponize these people, and has been developing a drug to amplify their powers. In Hong Kong, Cassie, a clairvoyant has turned up at the doorstep of Nick, a telekinetic, telling him that they need to work together to find a suitcase that holds the key to taking down the Division. The key to finding the case may be in the hands of Kira, a girl who’s turned up in Hong Kong as well, being chased by the Division and a super powered Chinese crime family.
The movie toes the line between out-and-out high sci-fi and mainstream sensibilities. It’s a tough balancing act that doesn’t always pay off for the film, leading to a few sequences that feel overtold and overexplained from a sci-fi perspective, and needlessly complicated from a mainstream standpoint. When it works, it’s pretty fun. The movie moves at a really brisk pace, obscuring some of the more questionable plot points with sheer style and speed. The film benefits from a strong design sense, drawing off the energy of the Hong Kong setting. Just like Hong Kong, it mixes a rugged urban feel with a glossy Asian pop influence, as much Canto-pop as it is a picture of urban decay. It’s this overall feel that ultimately makes Push so watchable, even as it creeps into convolution. It’s almost a strange indie-film feel, one that at times recalls the Hong Kong new wave and the best of the digital revolution. The action sequences are generally pretty strong. The fight scenes employ a mixed martial arts sensibility, grounding the battles even as they turn on the super powers.
Chris Evans is proving to be one of the more effective leading men of his generation. He’s got a strong physical presence that makes his action scenes credible, and a sympathetic delivery that makes you want to root for him. It’s not the kind of thing that’ll bring him into the A-list, but for the purposes of this movie, it serves him fine. It’s also nice to see Dakota Fanning having fun for once. She’s been stuck in serious roles for so long that it’s refreshing to see her relax a bit. The rest of the cast doesn’t really fare as well. Camilla Belle comes off as terribly lethargic. Djimon Honshou sleepwalks through the entire thing.
Push comes into a ridiculously overcrowded market, and that hurts it more than any of its flaws. In a world that already contains countless superhero movies, as well as the TV series Heroes, Push doesn’t really seem like it’s worth the investment, especially since the plot gets really messy at times. But Push isn’t really all that bad, and it probably deserves more of a chance than it’s going to get. There’s an interesting experiment hidden in the folds of this convoluted tapestry, a strange but compelling stab at injecting the mainstream superhero genre with an indie film sensibility. It’s doesn’t quite work out for the film, but it might be worth a look.
My Rating:
« previous Twice Broken
The New History next »
PLDT Watchpad
