Sunday 21 February 2010

Film Review: PUSH (2009)


Director: Paul McGuigan
Running time: 107 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 12
Released in the UK: 20th February 2009

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 21st February 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I didn’t know a lot about this movie before I watched it, just the write-up on Sky TV and the vague memory of a long distant TV review. I really wish I’d looked into it further before investing an hour and fifty minutes of my life to it, in fact even more to write this review. As you can guess, it’s not the best film I’ve ever seen, not the worst, but a long way short of the best.

Nick Gant lives in Hong Kong, where he’s hiding from a government agency called ‘Division’. You see Nick has an ability, he can move objects with his mind. This is just one of many abilities various people have developed over the years. Some can see a short time into the future, some can track everyone who has touched an object by smelling it and some can push thoughts into your mind. After a visit one day from some ‘sniffers’ from Division, Nick is visited by Cassie Holmes, a teenager who can see the future. She tells him that there is a suitcase with six million dollars in it and she needs his help to find it. Nick has gambling debts and so feels there’s nothing to lose. They set off to find the case but are soon confronted by a gang of locals, also with abilities, who are seeking the same case. The woman with the group has the same ability as Cassie, but seems better at it than her. They escape the attack and make their way to the waterfront, where they find Kira Hudson, who holds the key to the mystery. She has recently escaped from Division having been injected with a drug that enhances abilities, in her case; she can push thoughts into someone’s mind. During her escape, she grabbed a sample of the drug and hid it somewhere in Hong Kong. The trouble is her memory has been wiped. They are now in a race against time to find the case before the local gang or Henry Carver, from Division can get to it.

Two things struck me about this film, firstly, it’s a very complicated plot, and secondly, it’s very like the TV show, "Heroes". Unfortunately both of these things detracted from what should have been a quite enjoyable film. I felt the writers, directors, producers, etc. were trying to be a little too clever with the plot and not hitting the mark. It wasn’t all bad though, a half decent performance from Dakota Fanning as Cassie Holmes and Djimon Hounsou was pretty good as the bad guy Henry Carver. Not so good were Chris Evans as Nick Grant (good at getting beaten up, but not much else) and Camilla Belle as Kira Hudson.

Over all, a pretty lame attempt at something that’s done a lot better on TV. Some of the special effects were quite good, but nothing to write home about, just a shame the plot got in the way of what could have been a decent film. Not really recommended, but if you’re feeling bored…

My score: 5.4/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0465580/
Official Site: http://www.push-themovie.com/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi2707750937/

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