When I first saw the trailers for ‘Push’, the similarities to Marvel’s X-men were overwhelming. Being a big X-men fan, I decided to pass on seeing the movie in theaters. Fast forward a couple of months and the movie is now on DVD. After seeing it on the video store shelf I decided to check it out. While the two series have their similarities, Push has enough of its own vibe going on to distinguish it from other similar franchises.
The storyline follows two groups of mutants. One group comprises a special government unit, called the Division, who seek to capture and study all mutants in order to advance both technology and human ability in general, no matter the cost. Then you have the other group, who simply go about living their lives and using their powers however they please. (I don’t remember them being referred to as mutants in the film, but let’s just call a spade a spade here.) The Division has been conducting experiments to produce a drug that will enhance the abilities of any mutant dramatically. The problem is that out of all the test subjects, no one has survived the injection except for one woman, named ‘Patient Zero’. Immediately after being injected, she escapes and takes the last syringe of the drug with her. The Division then goes about trying to recover her by any means necessary while a small group of mutants seek to find her for themselves with the hopes that she has the key to bring down the Division and put an end to their persecution.
That is the plot in a nutshell. Each mutant has various abilities. For example, ‘Watchers’ can see the future, ‘Movers’ can move things telepathically, and ‘Pushers’ can push suggestive thoughts into other people’s minds to get them to do whatever they please. For being a brand new franchise, the film has a pretty good budget and the majority of the special effects are first rate. The movie also has some of the most colorful palettes I’ve ever seen in a film, as almost every shot is bursting with lush visuals.
The movie stars Chris Evans (Johnny Storm/Human Torch from the Fantastic Four movies) as Nick, a ‘mover’ enlisted by ‘watcher’ Cassie (Dakota Fanning) to help her recover Patient Zero in order to bring down the Division. Evans’ role is awfully similar to his other roles. If you can picture his Fantastic Four character with different powers then you can pretty much envision his performance in this film. Fanning’s character is a bit of a departure from her normal roles as she plays a street tough teenager. At least I thought she was supposed to be tough until the first action scene in which she screamed so horribly my ear drums almost popped.
That’s pretty much it. The movie isn’t great, but it’s not bad either. It will definitely keep you entertained for most of the film and is well worth a rental. The real star of this one is the special effects, which as mentioned previously, are top notch and allow for some pretty engaging action sequences. Overall, you can definitely do a lot worse than this movie and while it won’t exactly blow you away, it won’t put you to sleep either.