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Push (2009)
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Reviews Counted:118
Fresh:27
Rotten:91
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: The sci-fi thriller Push is visually flashy but hyperkinetic and convoluted.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for intense sequences of violence and action, brief strong language, smoking and a scene of teen drinking.
Runtime: 1 min 41 secs
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Theatrical Release:Feb 6, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $31,730,682
Synopsis:
A riveting action-thriller, Push burrows deep into the deadly world of psychic espionage where artificially enhanced paranormal operatives have the ability to move objects with their minds, see the...
A riveting action-thriller, Push burrows deep into the deadly world of psychic espionage where artificially enhanced paranormal operatives have the ability to move objects with their minds, see the future, create new realities and kill without ever touching their victims. Against this setting, a young man and a teenage girl take on a clandestine agency in a race against time that will determine the future of civilization.
The Division, a shadowy government agency, is genetically transforming citizens into an army of psychic warriors—and brutally disposing of those unwilling to participate. Nick Gant (Chris Evans), a second-generation telekinetic or “mover,” has been in hiding since the Division murdered his father more than a decade earlier. He has found sanctuary in densely populated Hong Kong—the last safe place on earth for fugitive psychics like him—but only if he can keep his gift a secret.
Nick is forced out of hiding when Cassie Holmes (Dakota Fanning), a 13-year-old clairvoyant or “watcher,” seeks his help in finding Kira, (Camilla Belle), an escaped “pusher” who may hold the key to ending the Division’s program. Pushers possess the most dangerous of all psychic powers: the ability to influence others’ actions by implanting thoughts in their minds. But Cassie’s presence soon attracts the attention of the Division’s human bloodhounds, forcing Nick and Cassie to flee for their lives.
With the help of a team of rogue psychics, the unlikely duo traverses the seedy underbelly of the city, trying to stay one step ahead of the authorities as they search for Kira. But they find themselves square in the crosshairs of Division Agent Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou), a pusher who will stop at nothing to keep them from achieving their goal.--© Summit
Starring: Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle, Djimon Hounsou
Starring: Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle, Djimon Hounsou, Neil Jackson, Ming-Na, Cliff Curtis, Nate Mooney, Lu Lu
Director: Paul McGuigan
Director: Paul McGuigan
Screenwriter: David Bourla
Producer: William Vince, Bruce Davey
Composer:
Studio: Summit Entertainment
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Reviews for Push
Director Paul McGuigan does his best, but this is just a slog that mistakes earnest detail for engaging narrative. Shove.
The premise is promising all right, but it's a movie over-stuffed with talk and actors with a glazed look as though they too aren't sure of what they're doing.
It’s fun teen stuff but wrecked by director Paul McGuigan’s confusing use of constant flashbacks.
The lack of any convincing over-arching plot, the muddled use of alternating futures and squashed-together gaggle of wafer-thin characters renders the project a near complete failure when it comes to thrills and entertainment.
Director Paul McGuigan serves this up with a flashy swagger but there is no disguising the fact that it is an incomprehensible mess.
I thought Hayden Christensen in last year's Jumper would be as bland a mutant as the screen would ever give us, but that was before I saw Chris Evans in Push.
Evans and 10,000 BC's Belle shuffle through a turgid romantic subplot, and though the two characters are very, very pretty, they've got the chemical spark of a banana.
In plot, it meanders. In character development, it implodes. In action, it plods. In effect, it numbs, but, alas, not quickly enough.
Push has amazing special effects and production design, but that doesn't compensate for the messy, incoherent plot and lack of truly palpable Sci-fi thrills and excitement.
'Push' suffers from a baffling script, but Dakota Fanning delivers a very watchable performance in this sci-fi thriller.
Even with all its idiosyncratic elements, Push feels like something we've seen before. Unfortunately, said memory is of something far more fascinating and definitely more engaging.
Push is an empty calorie extravaganza and demands a crooked concentration it doesn't earn to sufficiently piece this mess together.
If the words “A bit like Jumper but not as good” strike fear into your heart then you might want to avoid this turgid superpower stinker.
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