Disappointed moviegoers left the Boston Common Loews Theater wishing they, too, had the special powers of the ‘watchers’ in ‘Push,’ otherwise they could have seen the future and known to avoid leaving the house.’ The near-two-hour flick earned a ‘boo’ from one audience after the ending alluded to a sequel.
Under the direction of Paul McGuigan, ‘Push’ presented a predictable plot with a few sporadic twists here and there, which kept the audience guessing the intentions of characters.
The ‘Rush Hour 2’-meets-Harry Potter action film has fight scenes in Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong, where the movie takes place, and characters with supernatural powers. The three opposing forces: the Chinese ‘specials,’ the rebel group of main characters and the government, or ‘division.’
The various powers of the ‘specials’ are exaggerated (the ‘pushers’ all get a zoom on their pupil when using their power; the ‘screamers’ on their giant mouths), but it contributes to some spectacular fight scenes; the best scenes are the telekinetic fights, where Nick Grant (Chris Evans) throws people with his mind, even pulling the trigger of a gun without contact.
‘There are special people in this world. We don’t ask to be special; we’re just born this way,’ says Cassie Holmes (Dakota Fanning) in the opening credits to set the scene. Cassie, a ‘watcher,’ uses her clairvoyant abilities and teams up with Nick’s telekinetic abilities to escape the government because of the psychological experiments it performs on ‘specials’ in hopes of building an army of supernatural power. Cassie’s relationship with Nick is full of cute, brother-sister-like banter, which provides comic relief to the serious action.
Perhaps most notable is Fanning’s grown up look. In the movie, she forgoes her usual blond locks and child-like persona for long, ratty, streaked pink-and-purple nest of hair, and even stumbles around drunk in one scene.
That said, ‘Push’ might not be everyone’s favorite flick, but Evans does play a pretty smoldering ‘mover,’ and it’s always a treat to see Fanning dazzle the big screen as she grows into a young adult.
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