Movie Review - Push

That was kind of fun. I wish more superhero movies were like Push. Push may not have the pedigree or prestige of Dark Knight, Iron Man, or Spiderman 2, but it was a cool, low-key alternative to those weighty, loud, effects-laden tentpoles. Sure, the material is derivative (made obvious the abundance of comic book style projects today), but the gritty, uncompromising, anti-heroic spin makes Push unique in its own way.

Dir. Paul McGuigan uses Hong Kong as an electric backdrop to this story about people born with psychic abilities and the mysterious government agency, The Division, that chases them. Chris Evans, of Human Torch fame, plays Nick Gant a ‘mover’ who moves things with his mind. Nick escaped from Division’s clutches, specifically master ‘pusher’ (telepaths who manipulate thoughts) Henry Carver (Djimon Honsou), ten years ago. Now trying to lay low in Hong Kong, Nick is pulled into a convoluted web of action by teenaged ‘watcher’ (clairvoyants who see the future) Cassie, played by a quickly maturing Dakota Fanning. The twisty plot involves Nick’s ex-girlfriend Kira (Camilla Belle), another master ‘pusher’ who escaped from division with a syringe that could boost their powers and create the typical army of super soldiers. As Nick Cassie and Kira try to evade Division and a strange gang of Asian mindbenders, they encounter an eclectic cast of psychics who may or may not be on their side.
Push gets credit for being intense and, for the most part, focused. The intensity only fades near the climax when the plot loses its way thanks to an unnecessarily convoluted and meandering escape plot. Aside from that misstep, Push succeeds on the strength of McGuigan’s vision and the understated performances by the strong cast. McGuigan uses the busy, cluttered, neon streets of Hong Kong to give Push a tough, urban feel that is more in line with Nolan’s Dark Knight than Raimi’s Spider-Man. I appreciate films like Push that, despite their subject matter, use their settings to establish a believable world. Adding to relative believability is McGuigan’s approach to power displays. The powers in Push are subtle and nowhere near as flashy as something you’d see in X-Men. CGI was thankfully kept to a minimum and it works. The subtle, deceptive or defensive ways the characters use their powers meshes perfectly with the setting and McGuigan’s visuals.

Evans and Fanning carry this movie, despite being saddled with seemingly one-note (one dimensional) characters. Honsou and Belle also turn in satisfactory performances, but their characters are too clichéd to allow for any unique displays of character. The supporting cast, including Maggie Siff, Ming-Na, and Cliff Curtis, provides a blend of eclectic allies and enemies whose cool powers mostly overwhelm their character development. Evans and Fanning both turn in understated performances with more personality than any of the characters in Heroes. Evan’s Nick is a likeable toned down version of Human Torch whose quick wit and aloofness endears more than it than grates. Fanning’s Cassie is the same streetwise teen we’ve seen before, but Fanning performs with the grace of a seasoned performer and makes the character more likeable than it deserves. The characters in Push may be forced into one-dimensionality by the overwhelming plot, which includes a heavy back-story, and about five characters too many for its two-hour runtime, but what little personality they do have shines through phenomenally. The fact that script allows these characters to talk like smartass punks they should be doesn’t hurt either. As opposed to the super-serious self-effacing characters of most superhero yarns, the characters in Push are outlaw opportunists who’d rather use their powers for personal gain than to save the world. And, really, if you had powers like these, which lend themselves more to scamming (i.e. change plain paper into money) than super powered slugfests, wouldn’t you?

Push may not be the most original story, but, thanks to McGuigan’s cool visual style and strong performances, it’s a fun twist on the X-Men/Heroes/4400 template that’s worth a look to any fan of superhero flicks.

TV Review: Heroes – Ep. 314 “A Clear and Present Danger”

Heroes returned last night after a lengthy winter hiatus. As is tradition, viewers and critics approach the start of this new volume with hope and trepidation. Will it be better than the last? How long before they screw up again? Jaded by the disappointments of previous volumes and the nature of the material, my expectations are low. I don’t expect Heroes to be anything more than light fare that takes itself way too seriously. Not only is the show over-serious, but its fans and critics take it even more seriously than it deserves. That being said, I’m sure the blogosphere is flooded with Tuesday morning quarterbacks bemoaning the missteps from this volume, Fugitives, premiere. After two years on the sidelines, I’ll try to add some balance to discontent by briefly looking at the good and bad from last night’s episode.

Last night, we caught up with our Heroes, months after the Pinehearst explosion. The Heroes are trying to live “normal” lives (Peter’s back in healthcare as an EMT, Claire’s shopping colleges, Parkman is a bodyguard, Hiro and Ando continue to play amateur superheroes, etc.). All seems well until a “mysterious” black-ops unit starts rounding up people with abilities. As previewed in last volume’s finale, Nathan Petrelli is leading the charge to round up “supers” because they are a danger to society. Once the ever-precocious Claire stumbles on to her estranged father’s plot, which her grandmother, Angela, and adoptive father, Noah, are both in on, she alerts the other Heroes (Character interaction early in the season? Shocking, I know.). Despite Claire’s warning, the Heroes are captured and hauled off to a Spruce Goose bomber, which likely leads to some variation on the early 90’s version of Genosha from the X-Men comics. After a daring rescue by Claire and Peter, in which we learn that Peter can no longer retain all the powers he absorbs, the plane crashes and we’re left with a cliffhanger and a preview of the Heroes actually working together.

Now, let’s get the pain out of the way and look at the premiere’s negatives.

1. Dialogue – Still cringe-worthy, but not nearly as bad as it used to be. The characters, especially Peter, Claire, and Mohinder, still speak in that ultra-serious tone that implies that the world will end tomorrow.
2. Character Motivations – Nathan has, somewhat, understandably turned on his own after dealing with all the crap from volumes 1-3 1/2. While Nathan’s perspective is mildly logical, Angela Petrelli and Noah Bennet’s involvement is more confusing. What does Angela benefit from having supers locked up? And, is there no other job HRG can do besides catch supers? Jeez, man, get a degree or something.
3. Matt and Daphne – Seriously, these two are not compatible in the slightest. Even Daphne seems visibly uncomfortable with their coupling. With only Matt enjoying this it’s almost possible that he’s got Daphne in a mind grip. Either way, writers, stop forcing this paring down everyone’s throat.

Now, the good:

1. Streamlined plot – For once, the plot seems simple. The Heroes become fugitives after their normal lives are interrupted by Nathan’s Mutant Registration Stormtroopers, led by the Vampire Judge from True Blood. If the writers can keep it simple and logical—well, as logical as possible—then I’ll stay on board until season’s end.
2. Character Interaction — Finally, after two seasons of contriving ways to keep the characters apart, the writers decided maybe we should let our characters interact with each other rather than occupy their own personal solar systems. Novel, I know. Hopefully, this will continue and heroes will become Heroes rather than random assortment of powered people save the world from apocalypse variation 6,042.
3. Humor-Carrying over from the last point, character interaction allows the Heroes to act almost human. When Peter gets into Mohinder’s cab halfway through the premiere, they actually exchange a joke, almost like they were human. Keep this up and the viewers will see the characters as more than action figures or chess pieces.
4. Ando’s power — For such a seemingly useless power, it sure looks cool. When Ando’s hands crackle with energy and make that starter sound, I can’t help but think of King of Fighters, with Kyo Kusanagi clenching a fist filled with crackling flames.

With all that said, I wish Heores luck with this volume. It’s likely they’ll let us down, but if we set our expectations low enough then we can only be pleasantly—well, moderately—surprised.