Film Reviews

Push

• Rating:
• Director: Paul McGuigan
• Starring: Chris Evans
• Details: USA / 111mins / (12A)

Chris Evans, who recently gained the respect of folk with his fantastic performance in Danny Boyle's Sunshine, headlines this barely passable action flick, with talented teen Dakota Fanning. Evans is the telekinetic Nick, who we meet all grown up in Hong Kong, years after his father bought the farm at the hands of the shady organisation The Division - who continue to track his whereabouts. Suddenly, one day, Fanning turns up and offers him a carrot and stick in the form of vast amounts of money, to help her avoid impending death (she can see into the future, see); and Evans bites, as there are lots of wrong 'uns looking to use his kneecaps for batting practice. The concept alone here is exciting stuff and, judging by the trailer, this looked like great fun, with a couple of well handled and innovative action sequences. But, sadly, save for a relatively smart twist at the end, this is one of the laziest films you are likely to see this year. Every time our duo, who soon become a threesome, meet an obstacle that proves difficult, they either discover a new power, or go to a random character with the ability to solve their conundrum. This happens more than once, and feels like someone trying to fix a convoluted script that was already past repair. Director McGuigan does a solid job on the action front, and has an extremely slick visual style that suits both the far eastern location and the story, but he can't guide the increasingly shoddy plot to anything resembling coherence. Evans, an action star in the making, still manages to impress; his obvious charisma still brazenly evident in even the most subpar material - just as it was in The Fantastic Four movies. Fanning is fine, and obviously attempting something more grown up, which is fair enough, but Hounsou really needs to stop with the token bad guys. There is only so much snarling one actor can do, and he should be all snarled out after The Island. A disappointing effort, which feels like a pricey and needlessly elongated TV pilot.

Review by Mike Sheridan