Push- With a Little Give and Take

This latest film by Paul McGuigan of "Wicker Park and Lucky Number Slevin" acclaim does a fair job with a growing genre of film, the sci-fi/superhuman movie.

Seeing how there are now a bunch of these films scattered about it is hard to come out with and an interesting let alone unique story line. But "Push" seems to be able to stand on it's own.

There have been some films that touch upon the mutant/superhuman/ genetically engineered genre that have sunk while others swam. "X-Men" was certainly a hard act to follow, and a few in my opinion were able to bring anything new to the table, like "Eagle Eye" or "Wanted". The film "Jumper" was a good movie in it's unique plot, and "Push" was sort of a distant cousin to it, mutants being pursued by covert government agencies.

I did find it slightly amusing that like "Jumper", "Push" had a black actor ( Djimon Hounsou) playing the lead agent, not unlike the role played by Samuel Jackson in the former. But otherwise that is were the similarities ended.

"Push" is based in a semi-real conspiracy theory world or psychic and telekinetic powers being harvested in people through the use of labratory drugs. And basically trained mutants are used to track down and subdue the rogues. So nothing new there really.

The performances were decent enough, not the top of the shelf crew as far as actors go, but I would say every one in the cast is someone with strong box office currency. Chris Evans of Fantastic Four fame, delivers more or less the same sort of acting he does in all his other films, falable hero with the charming smile and humorous disposition. Camilla Belle is someone who really should be making Oscar winning movies, seems to prefer doing these sci-fi/horror based films. And Dakota Fanning seems to be riding in the wake, acting-wise as well. She delivered a rather endearing perfomance and has the chops to carry a film. I hope to see her in future projects.

Not really sure why Djimon is not knocking out more serious roles either. He was awesome in "Amistad", "Gladiator" and "The Four Feathers", but I guess there is only so many films you can make with in intense angry black men, and Denzel and Sammy J, seem to be scooping them up! But Djimon is a gentle soul, and good things I hope come to those who wait.

The film is a fast pace adventure filled with plot twists, and seriously cool special effects as far as the fight scenes and mutant powers go. It had the potential to be really bad, with the storyline going all over the place. But all in all I would say cast and crew did a decent job, at least the story had a theme and an ending which is more than I can say for some films I have seen. Maybe not a must own on DVD, as it has few special features worth noting. But definitely worth a look as a Netflix rental.

A final note there is an actor with a very brief role named Joel Gretsch. I first became aware of him in Legend of Bagger Vance. He has great personality and looks, and yet he seems destined for these little cameos in films. Another career I will be keeping an eye on.