These days, Hollywood is just about as creative as the vocabulary in a Christian Bale meltdown. Case in point, Big Picture Studios are releasing not just one (“Paul Blart: Mall Cop”), but two movies this year featuring mall cops of all people — Seth Rogen will star in “Observe and Report” this April. Then there is “Push,” which has the superpower feel of blockbusters like “X-Men,” but, in reality, packs as much punch as a 5-year-old in a Wolverine costume.
Although the film is by and large a lackluster experience, where it truly suffers is in its lack of development. While the movie features sophomoric dialogue and a convoluted screenplay, let’s face it, so do some of the other more entertaining, SFX-laden superpower flicks.
The real problem is in the characters. Most films in this genre have the luxury of featuring beloved superheroes with extensive comic book histories. The characters in this film, however, are not known beforehand, nor does the audience learn much about them during the movie. Therefore, there is an overwhelming sense of “I just do not give a damn” about them.
For instance, Nick Gant the Mover (Chris Evans, “Street Kings”) — someone with telekinesis abilities — and Cassie Holmes the Watcher (Dakota Fanning, “The Secret Life of Bees”) — someone who can see the future — were born Psychics, yet we have little to no insight into their past or any idea as to how they even obtained these powers in the first place. Then there are utterly inexplicable characters like Bleeders, who emit high-pitched screams that rupture blood vessels. All we really know for sure is that a group of Psychics are banding together to take down a dangerous government agency, one whose background is, naturally, unknown.
What is worse is that director Paul McGuigan (“Lucky Number Slevin”) and writer David Bourla (“Larceny”) use this lack of character development as a way to prevent audiences from foreseeing the film’s plot twists. In the movie, certain psychics named pushers have the ability to push thoughts and memories into their target’s minds, forcing them to believe something that did not happen really did. Because the audience knows almost nothing about the characters’ pasts, they are tricked into believing these false memories are real and, as a result, have no way of seeing the upcoming plot twists. All this ends up accounting for is lazy screenwriting.
Bourla also fails in his attempt to lighten up the film with a little humor. Not only is the movie loaded with cringe-worthy one-liners, but most of them also have the misfortune of being listed off by the perpetually unfunny Evans. Taking on superpowers for the third time in his short career, Evans is no charm and is as lethargic and one-dimensional as he was in “Fantastic Four,” and its god-awful sequel. He is living proof that some actors are hired solely because they look the part, not because they act it. In the end, it is never a good sign when the funniest scene in your film involves a drunken Fanning in a fit of babbling, virtually incoherent rage.
Speaking of Fanning, it is hard to deny the fact that she is one of the hardest working young actresses in the business, especially since she starred in two of last week’s new releases — the other being “Coraline.” Unfortunately, she needs to learn that sometimes quality is better than quantity. Fanning certainly has the acting chops, but she is given little material to work with in this film. It ends up making her overall performance appear less than stellar.
Same goes for Djimon Hounsou (“Blood Diamond”), who plays an agent for the mysterious government agency. This man has been nominated for two Oscars for heaven’s sake. Is he really that strapped for cash that he decided to waste his talent on such a stagnant character?
“Push” does have some rather impressive special effects and its Hong Kong nightlife setting is bursting with electric energy, but, in the end, these pros all but disappear thanks to the film’s undeveloped blackout of characters, dialogue and storyline. To put it in a more theme appropriate way, if I were a pusher, I would push the thought into you that this movie never existed. Ironically enough, give it a couple years and this will most likely be true.
1 1/2 stars out of 5.
