"Push" Is a Case Study in the Art of Deceptive Advertising

5/10

The advertising for this film made it seem like a blockbuster action movie. I think some of the TV spots actually called it "the first real action movie of the year." Hardly the case. For example, look at the poster for this movie. We see someone, presumably Chris Evans, displaying some impressive telekinetic abilities, throwing people, cars, and automatic weapons around like it's his job. Switch to the actual movie: Chris Evans has limited telekinetic powers and struggles to move anything around.

The main illustration of the fraudulent advertising is simply the total amount of action in the movie. There really isn't that much. The climax is an action scene, of course. Even these disingenuous jokers couldn't get away with a climax that lacked some flashy telekinesis. But other than that, there's a whole lot of talking, most of it boring and expository. Which is a shame, really, because the premise for this movie is really quite interesting. It's the execution that falls flat.

My interest in the premise brings me to what was good about this movie. Dakota Fanning shows that she will likely be a solid actress for many years to come. She is by far the most convincing actor in this movie, which is kind of sad when you think about it. Setting the movie in Hong Kong resulted in some nice aerial shots. Lastly, as I stated, the idea of all the different powers was interesting. The pushers, who can invade and influence another person's thoughts. The watchers, who can see some trajectories of future events. The sniffers, who are like juiced up hunting dogs. The bleeders were probably the hokiest of the bunch, with the SUPERSONIC SCREAM THAT MAKES YOUR EARS BLEED!! gimmick. It didn't help that the bleeder characters were written as cardboard, one-dimensional thugs.

This movie ultimately serves to illustrate Dakota Fanning's versatility and potential longevity as an actress. It does little else.