MOVIE REVIEW | Push needs a shove

Ryan Kleine | Staff Writer
kleiner@imail.losrios.edu

Do you remember that adorable little girl from I am Sam and Uptown Girls? After seeing director Paul McGuigan’s Push you’ll realize that Dakota Fanning is growing up.

She co-stars alongside Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Cellular) in this film about people with special powers with a secret society trying to stop them.

What? No! It’s nothing like last year’s terrible Jumper. The lead is a young man…the guy trying to stop them is an intimidating black man…there’s a lot of action with use of computer-generated images or CGI. OK, OK, there are some similarities.

Unlike Jumper, Push had talented actors (sorry to all of the young women who like the talentless Hayden Christensen). It was also more complex. It came a lot closer to fulfilling the potential that Jumper failed to.

Push takes you into a world full of “watchers,” “sniffers,” “movers,” “pushers,” and other “-ers” that all have their own special powers. To get involved in the movie, you have to accept that all of these people exist and learn what they can do very fast.

Nick (Evans) is the telekinetic “mover,” who is learning to use his powers while staying off the radar of the evil “Division.” A 13-year-old girl (Fanning) sporting pink hair and a miniskirt knocks on his door. She’s a “watcher” (able to see the future) who has a proposal for Nick that involves him getting a large sum of money. To get it, though, they have to locate the only person who has ever escaped the Division, a young woman (Camilla Belle).

I loved Cellular and I loved Evans in Fantastic Four. Going into Push, I was afraid he would disappoint me. I’m happy to say I was wrong. I wasn’t crazy about his generic character, but Evans filled the part and brought as much depth to Nick as he could.

Fanning’s Cassie is the best part of this movie. She’s the only one that shows more than two emotions, and she does it with the passion Fanning always seems to bring to her roles. She’s sassy with a great scene of vulnerability.

We never get an in-depth look at any of the supporting characters even though there wasn’t a large supporting cast. It made them feel distant, but somehow managed to keep me engaged. The plot moved along at a good pace without overcomplicating itself with ridiculous subplots.

The main problem with Push is that there is a lot of story without explanation. It could redeem itself with a sequel like X2 that goes into more depth, but standing alone, Push is mildly entertaining. It is consistent with decent writing with the perfect amount of humor. C+.

Push is now playing, check your local listing for a theater near you.