Reay Jespersen

World War Two Germany. The Nazis continue to experiment with human psychic abilities in the attempt to create an army whose collective minds are the true weapon. The Nazis are ultimately defeated, but the experiments are continued, Stateside and around the world in what are known as Divisions. Some of those people with psychic abilities who’ve escaped have had children, even as governments track down and capture or trace as many as possible who are known to have these abilities. And the abilities are myriad: those with telekinetic abilities are known as Movers, while those who can see glimpses of the future are Watchers. Pushers are people who can make you believe anything they tell you, as though you’re remembering it as reality. These abilities are joined by Smiths, Stitches, Bleeders, Sniffers, Shadows… the list goes on.
A drug has been created which should greatly enhance the psychic power of these people. Ongoing experiments prove fatal to those who are forcefully injected. That is, until one woman is injected in the current day setting and survives, then is barely able to escape the Division facility. Those with psychic powers working for Divisions help track down those with psychic abilities, but it will take time to find her, and there’s not much time to lose.

Nick Gant (Chris Evans) was told ten years ago by his Mover father that he was “special” just before his father was killed by Division agents headed by Pusher extraordinare Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou). Nick has been living on his own ever since, trying unsuccessfully to master his Moving skill. Division knows where he’s staying in China, and two of their Sniffers show up looking for the woman who escaped a few days earlier. Just as they leave, Cassie (Dakota Fanning) shows up at his door. She’s a Watcher who’s still honing her own skills, and offers to help both of them become rich. She’s seen where six million dollars is being stored, and with his help, they can get it and split it. Nick is walking away before she even has a chance to explain the plan. She runs to catch up with him but then sees a glimpse of the future: there are people already in the market with them who are going to attack them. A Chinese family, themselves a group with psychic powers, have been tipped off about Nick and Cassie’s future windfall and want a piece of it.
Barely surviving, Nick and Cassie finally connect with the woman who survived the injection and escaped from Division; it turns out to be Kira (Camilla Belle), Nick’s former girlfriend and a (newly drug-enhanced) Pusher. The three of them go on the run, now pursued by Division and the power-hungry Chinese family who not only want what the trio have, but what they’re soon going to get.

Push worked for me better than it may for others, in part because I’m a sucker for psychic powers that are handled well. I’ve actually been working on a similar idea to this for a few years, though clearly I’m not the first one to tap the “government experiments on people who(se children) gain psychic powers” concept. The main problem that I had with the movie was that it was good for the first half and plateaued too much in the second half. Once we’re introduced to the abilities and the characters who have them and the set-up is made - all of which was handled pretty well - it feels like it winds down too slowly, rather than winding up toward the climax.
Added to that was some confusion about what exactly the powers were. Watchers are supposed to be able to see the future, which potentially changes with every choice made. Yet the daughter of the Chinese family, herself a Watcher with more finely-honed abilities than Cassie has, later on sees not only the future but what has just happened in the immediate past, letting her close in on her selected target even when choices aren’t being consciously made for her to pick up on. A Stitch shows up early on to heal Nick’s battered and bruised body, yet shows up later to inflict a great deal of pain upon him, the same sound effect suggesting that she’s perhaps un-doing (or re-doing) that damage back to him.
Early in their partnership, Nick and Cassie approach a friend of Nick’s to ask for his help. He has the psychic ability to turn one physical thing into another (evidently really, not just as a mind trick), but it only stays changed for a limited time before reverting to its actual state. And not that the audience has to be told everything about everything, but it struck me as odd somehow that such an ability was limited. If his altered physical state reverted after a time, why wouldn’t a Pusher’s influence only last a limited time, rather than apparently being long-lasting, if not a permanent fixture in a person’s mind?
Finally, Nick is supposed to be a Mover, but there are hints that he may be more than that. His father tells Nick he’s special, perhaps suggesting that he’s special beyond inheriting his father’s Moving ability. Later on, as they’re re-connecting, Nick playfully asks Kira if she’s Pushing him. She tells him to just Push back. And as the movie approaches its final confrontation, Nick writes out personal instructions for each of his ragtag group which they’re to open and follow at specific times, and then has his memory of writing them wiped out so he can’t be Watched. The way the instructions play out is clockwork perfect. Yet how would he have known precisely when they needed to open and follow their instructions without knowing what events and twists would be happening in the future, a Watcher’s ability?
I understand that there are enough powers at play here that the use and limitations of them can’t be itemized for the audience, or it could get very dull very quickly. But as with any other universe created for a viewer/reader, once the rules are introduced and put into play, they must be adhered to. Changing them out of the blue later on will only serve to confuse people who have been dutifully playing along and think they know what’s what.
That aspect, along with the hints but no follow-through on Nick’s “specialness”, and with the unforunate winding down feel from the half way point, only serves to make Push an alright movie but not nearly as good as it could’ve been, had it revved up what it started off with.
It’s left with enough open-endedness that a sequel could be written for it pretty easily, but unless the writers tie up some fat loose ends regarding the abilities, and ramp up their story to a true climax next time, they’d do as well to not bother putting in the effort.

In short, an alright rental if nothing else on the shelf grabs your attention, but as cool as some of the stuff in it may be, taking a pass on it completely wouldn’t leave you missing a whole lot.