I’m really starting to like that Dakota Fanning. Not that I hated her before. Ms. Fanning has pulled some very memorable performances. It amazed me how she could hold her pint-sized own against the likes of Denzel Washington, Mike Meyers, & Robert DeNiro. I don’t blame Dakota for her annoying squeals in War of the Worlds. That was obviously Spielberg’s fault.

After charming the pants off America yet again in The Secret Life of Bees (which you can catch on DVD now) Dakota goes grunge as the sassy seer, Cassie Holmes, in Push. Our little darling is growing up and what better way to show her maturing side than with multicolor tresses, knee high boots, and a skirt so short it could inspire a Nair commercial. Cassie is classified as a “Watcher”. Watchers can see glimpses of the future, basically. To help her make sense of her visions Cassie carries around a chic little notebook to doodle her brain-images on. Though Cassie was my favorite character and electrifies every scene she’s in the main character in Push is Nick (Chris Evans). But first a little background into the world of Push.


Nick (C. Evans) & Cassie (D. Fanning): Saving The World And Keeping Things Casual

During World War II, the Nazis were experimenting on people in the hopes of turning them into super soldiers. Though the war ended, the experiments continued on. This underground program produced a variety of empowered beings known as “Specials”. Eventually, these Specials escaped the labs and ventured into the world to lead normal lives and have families. On the other side of the spectrum was a US organization called The Division that employed Specials as agents.

Specials are divided into a variety of categories. I already told you about the Watcher. The Bleeder has a sonic wail that can shatter glass and make your ears bleed (hence the name). Shifters can take a piece of paper and temporarily change it into a dollar bill or take an earring and mold it into a shiny bead. Sniffers have psychometric powers that allow them to gain information about a person from an object such as a key or a hairbrush. Shadows are nigh undetectable by tracker specials like watchers and sniffers. Plus, Shadows can expand their field to cover other people and even places. Stitchers use their fingers to heal the injured or torture them to death. Pushers can control the thoughts of others through eye contact while Movers can move things with their minds. And finally we have the Wiper that can erase a person’s memory.

Phew! And now that those facts have been laid out let’s get back to Nick.

Young Nick (Colin Ford) and his dad (Joel Gretsch) were on the run from The Division. When they’re backed into a corner Dad gets his son out while he stays to play the sacrificial lamb. Before they part Dad tells Nick to be on the lookout for a young girl that offers him a flower and help her anyway he can.

Ten years later Nick is hiding in Hong Kong trying to survive through street gambling while staying off the radar of Division agents. Cassie tracks down Nick and enlists him in a mission that will bring them both into direct conflict with the very organization Nick wants to avoid. The goal is to find an escapee from a Division facility. The escaped special was injected with an experimental power booster serum. This one is truly special because she is the only Special that has survived the injection. Unfortunately, for The Division, the girl escapes and with a vial of the experimental drug. Agents are sent out to retrieve the girl and the stolen syringe before their secret is revealed to the public. Of course Nick doesn’t want to partake in this suicide mission but once he learns that the target is his old flame Kira (Camilla Belle) he is compelled to team up with Cassie, save the girl, and defeat The Division.



These Bleeders (Chi Kwan Fung & Jackie Heung) Just Found Out They're Not In "Push 2"

When I saw the trailer I thought “X-Men + Heroes + The Matrix = Push!” After seeing the movie I would probably reduce the X-Men part of that equation and increase the portions of Heroes. The Matrix isn’t that big of an influence except for one scene where two Movers go at it in a restaurant. Anyway, it wasn’t the complete ripoff that I thought it was going to be. That doesn’t mean you won’t spot some doppelgangers in Push. The most blatant example happens to be my favorite character. I would bet someone else’s money that Little Miss Holmes was based on Layla Miller. Layla is a character that was introduced in the Marvel Comic, “X-Factor”. Like Layla, Cassie can see the future. Like Layla, Cassie has a wicked sense of sarcasm and an edgy sense of fashion. And like Layla, Cassie is constantly trying to get the grown ups to listen to her wisdom. All Cassie needed was to utter “I know stuff” and Peter David would have a solid plagurism case.

Push’s attempt at originality was honorable. I liked that the origin of the Specials were based on military experiments instead of the Specials just being born with it. Like mutants the specials didn’t ask for these powers but instead of an evolutionary leap forward these poor souls were manipulated by their fellow humans. That’s kind of new. Sort of. Right?

Nick rounds up a formidable yet reluctant group of Specials to help out. Among them is Ming Na as the lovely sniffer, Emily. She wowed me in The Joy Luck Club and was outstanding, as Chun-Li, in the beloved yet hated 1994 live action flick, Street Fighter. Didn’t catch her on ER, though, but I was glad she got such a prime steady gig. Cliff Curtis is a shifter named “Hook Waters” that knows all too well how ruthless The Division can be. I kept looking at him trying to figure out who he was. Where had I seen Curtis before? According to IMDB I probably saw him in blockbusters such as Live Free or Die Hard, 10,000 BC, Sunshine, and Deep Rising.


So, Mr. Waters (C. Curtis), What Else Can You "Shift"?

Camilla Belle is the girl everyone’s after. Kira is doubly cursed by being a Special and the first candidate to survive the booster serum. She’s likable enough but she didn’t really shine until the finale when she gets new threads and let’s her enhanced powers run wild. When looking at Belle I wondered if she would make a good Cammy in a Street Fighter live action movie. And then there’s Chris Evans as the big hero, Nick. He did his thing. I can’t say it was an original or mindblowing thing but he played Nick by the book and there’s no crime in that.


Pusher, Lover, Fighter; Kira (C. Belle) Is Every Woman

Djimon Hounsou plays the major Special villain of the story, Agent Henry Carver. Agent Carver is an accomplished Pusher and seems to have no qualms about capturing and exploiting his own kind. While I enjoyed Hounsou as the bad guy I was a tad baffled by his diction sometimes. I’ve never had a problem with his accent before but in this flick it just kept tripping him and his performance up. His second in command is Agent Victor (Neil Jackson). He lets his mover powers do most of the talking especially when testing Nick’s skills.

Another fave was a Watcher for the local Chinese gang of Specials. I don’t remember what her name was or if it was even mentioned but Cassie referred to her as “Lollipop Girl”. What I do know is that this rival Watcher was played by Xiao Lu Li and she was fantastic. She may have looked like a pop princess but her powers give Cassie a run for her money. Evil Stitcher Theresa Stowe (Maggie Siff) is a wild card. She might be a foe or she could be a friend. Whichever role she chooses Theresa is definitely a Special you don’t want to be in an elevator with.
 

I Predict That You Will Be Dead By The Time I Finish My Lollipop (X.L. Liu)

The special effects that made the Specials so, um, special weren’t too bad. The big stuff occurred when Nick or Victor used their Mover powers that would produce a lot of property damage. The Pushers handled the subtle violence by coaxing people into shooting themselves. Hook Waters’ shifting abilities were neat. The rest of the action is mostly running and chasing.

Push was rough on my senses. I left the theater feeling like I had been strung up in a sack and then beaten with baseball bats. Maybe it was those trippy images from Cassie’s visions and Emily’s mental pictures? I know the portion of the story where Nick and Co. confuse themselves so as to confuse enemy Watchers also confused me a little bit. And if this was such a race against time how did Nick & Emily manage to sneak a snogging session in there? Sure it allows for a hilarious “drunk Cassie” scene but in real life I would think those two would be planning their next move instead of making moves.


Don't Push Agent Carver (D. Hounsou) Or He Will Push Back

I liked Push but I also feel sorry for the project because it’s going to be compared to a lot of other franchises that have taken this same kind of story and produced a more coherent product. The film will give you action, some laughs and the Hong Kong backdrop is cool but there’s a hollow feeling to the film that gives me the impression that this plot wasn’t fully realized. What could’ve been an interesting twist on the superpower genre more closely resembles a patchwork of scenes and characters we’ve seen before.
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