Push: Excited?

YES!

It’s original
Since superpowers and heroes are all the rage – but comic books are the main source - it feels unusual to have something original hitting our screens. And while some of the Push gang’s abilities are familiar to anyone who has read SF, cracked a comic, or seen something like Carrie, it still feels like a fresh take on the genre, and entirely costume free.

 

The setting
McGuigan used to be a photographer for a living, so he has a keen eye for cool imagery on the screen. He chose the bustling city of Hong Kong as the backdrop for the film partly because it allows the characters to vanish into the crowd, but also because it makes the film look different to most of the competition. And it really works effectively – check out Fanning’s mad dash through a fish market, part of which you can see in the trailer.

 

Some great acting work…
Dakota Fanning’s carving out a niche for herself with some solid thesping work, and even here – in a genre where characters are often overlooked in favour of plot developments – she puts in a great job. It’s a much more mature role for her, and she inhabits tetchy, driven teenager Cassie with ease. Props must also be given to Djimon Hounsou, who breaks free of his usual noble roles to play a nasty, yet layered, villain.

NO!

…But not everyone’s on the same page
Chris Evans and Camilla Belle, sadly, don’t register at quite the same level. While they effectively build a little chemistry in their roles as former lovers-turned-fugitives, they never quite break out of their usual styles. Even though Belle gets to play the action girl at points, she doesn’t ever convince you she looks comfortable doing it.

 

It’s a little more cliché than you think
While some of the subject mattered is handled well, for the most part you’ve seen this sort of story told many times before, on TV and in the movies. It wants to be a smart, thoughtful thriller, but more often than not, it’s a lot of running around.

 

Why the delay?
While the film wrapped in December of 2007, it started post-production in Jan 2008, but wasn’t finished until October 2008. What took so long? Particularly with a movie that, despite its super-powered plot line claims to have been less CG, more practical? We sense tinkering and lack of faith in it.

 

Excite-O-Meter rating: 3/5