Push is an action movie that might entertain you for about 30 seconds at a time, but proves without good writing snazz is nothing. It’s about mutants on the run from shady government types, which isn’t exactly wild originality in the superhero genre.
There are a lot of directors who do what I like to call Brett-Ratner-bullshit. Now this is actually not much of a knock on Ratner, who has made some very entertaining movies I’ve really enjoyed (i.e. Rush Hour). But watching a Brett Ratner movie, you’d have no way of knowing he directed it. There’s no personal artistic stamp.
Give me one frame of a Tony Scott (Man on Fire) or Ridley Scott (Gladiator) film and chances are I can tell it’s from those directors. That’s a sign that they have a distinct visual style, which is what you want from any director. You want some sense of personality, otherwise your visual experience feels factory made, like processed cheese.
Paul McGuigan, who has done the films Gangster No 1, Wicker Park and Lucky Number Slevin (all with cinematographer Peter Sova) and now sci-fi actioner Push, has a stamp. His stamp is kind of strange sometimes, he doesn’t care if it makes you quesy or uncomfortable. He’ll do a close up so close you kind of want to say, hey back off. He’ll throw in a random wide angle lense shot. His movies have personality visually.
The problem is content-wise, he’s got issues. Wicker Park was maddeningly confusing, Gangster No 1 unpleasant and claustrophobic, Lucky Number Slevin tonally indecisive and finally Push is remarkably uninvolving. Which brings me to my initial point.
It’s Poorly Written, Emotionally
I have an article on why I think Fireproof and Marley and Me performed at the box office, and my point was basically that they made people care.
Push does not make you care. You don’t care that Nick (Chris Evans) watched his dad killed by Carver (Djimon Hounsou) from shadowy agency Division. Why not? Because you don’t know his Dad, you see him for 3 minutes tops before he gets rubbed out.
Ditto for the relationships between Dakota Fanning’s character and her mom, who is actually NEVER seen in the movie despite being constantly referenced.
And Speaking of Dakota Fanning, What?
I don’t know what possessed Dakota Fanning to play a drinking, miniskirt wearing teen, but it’s kinda like seeing that really nice nerdy girl from High School act like a whore because she thinks it will make her popular. It just makes you sad.
No Dakota! You are a wonderful actress. Don’t do these things!
My personal Dakota Fanning moment came from the magnificent Sci-Fi miniseries Taken, where she played the pinnacle of a 50 year human-alien crossbreeding experiment. And you know what? I bought it. She was probably like seven years old and they gave her a ton of philosophical, deep voiceovers (not faux-philosophical nonsense like they have had on Heroes, but genuinely moving insights) and she said them like she was 90 years old.
The point is, here you have an actress with an astonishing gift for conveying poise and maturity beyond her years and she decides to play a character who has a gift for conveying poise and maturity below her years. It’s frustrating to watch her try to pull this off, but she’s actually such a good actress she doesn’t totally bomb it.
Djimoun Hounsou is in it, he’s cool, right?
Much like Dakota, this is a disappointing choice for Djimon. Here’s a guy who can give totally Oscar worthy performances in films like Gladiator and Blood Diamond and turn around and star in movies like Never Back Down, and take roles like this one where he basically has zero character. It’s practically interchangeable with the role he played in Michael Bay’s The Island. Someone get this man a decent character.
Okay so the story is weak, but I’m going for the cool fight scenes
There are no cool fight scenes, essentially. You may get a cool touch here and there, a psychic controlling an army of dudes with her mind, fish exploding from a mutant scream, floating guns firing, and so on. But those individual beats are just that, and the overall fights containing them are largely generic.
Screenwriters, what’s going on here?
Selling a spec script in Hollywood is kinda like discovering you used to be a Leprachaun. It’s pretty unlikely. Yet David Borla sold this script, with from what I’ve read no pre-existing source material.
And it’s generic. You put this script up on Triggerstreet.com and the community would eat it up. It wouldn’t get a Consider from a coverage service or even place in a contest. Unless someone really forced Borla’s hand and ruined his script, this is just unbelievable.
Cliff Curtis Plays Man with an Accent #234,222
Cliff Curtis was Hispanic in Training Day, American in Live Free or Die Hard, Columbian in Collateral Damage, and the list goes on. Here he plays an English guy who can make anything look like anything else. And he’s charming and smooth and effortlessly good in a way that makes you wish this movie was better.
Second Banana Bad Guy Cooler Than #1 Banana
Neil Jackson plays Victor, Carver’s right hand man. He’s pretty much overacting, but man is it fun to watch him scowl like his life depends on it. It’s honestly the best part of the movie.
-Dan Benamor