nan | 楠木

Push seems like an effort to capitalize on the popularity of superhero stories (the cliched “there are people with special abilities among us”), as in the TV series Heroes, and of course films like X-Men or last year’s Jumper. That last film is worth mentioning, as Push has quite a few things in common with it.

The film is almost entirely shot on location in Hong Kong, which is mildly novel since not so often do US supernatural heroes grace the exotic orient (or at least have their entire film here). Chris Evans is the lead man as Nick, a guy who can move things with his mind (essentially he’s a foot-soldier). In the intro scene, Nick’s father dies at the hands of the evil but certainly lamely-named “Division”, which is a US government agency doing all kinds of evil research on these gifted people. The face of Division is Carver (Djimon Hounsou, who’s had much more interesting roles before), a “pusher” who can manipulate others’ thoughts (remember that episode from The X-Files?). Other notable characters include Dakota Fanning as Cassie (a “watcher” who can predict the future), and Carmilla Belle as Kira, who is Nick’s love interest and the center-piece of the plot puzzle. Skinny (some people might say hot) Chinese actress Xiaolu Li also makes an appearance, as a fully one-dimensional “watcher” representing another faction trying to hunt down the good guys.

Writing the above paragraph makes me realize that the characters sound much more interesting on paper than what is actually on screen. Essentially this is an issue with the plot – speaking of which, there’s not much. Basically the three different parties – the good guys, the Division, and the Hong Kong local equivalent of the Division – run into each other randomly in various parts of Hong Kong, and sometimes they fight, while sometimes they only talk nicely and behave themselves. At one point in the second act, the good guys must make a “plan without planning”, since any real planning will be foreseen by the antagonist watchers – indeed, “like a plan without planning” probably sums up the chaotic plot best.

At the end of the day, Push just feels like a special episode of Heroes, without the interesting personalities of that TV series. There are some flashy visuals and action sequences, but nothing really spectacular. A misfire.

4/10