2009
Sci-Fi/Action
Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle
Similar to: X Men, Heroes, The 4400
I heard a lot of reviews comparing Push to Heroes, and even though I have never seen Heroes, it sounds like comparison is about right. In the movie a bunch of people have special powers, results of experiment done by the government. Well of course, there are good guys with powers, and bad guys with powers. Based on the previews and the name of the movie I expected everybody to have the same power. I expected them to all be throwing objects and people all around the screen using their mine, but thats not the case. There are a bunch of differnet power sets, each with their own cool name, "Wipers" "Sniffers"etc. "Pushers" seem to be the most powerful, they can make anyone believe anything as the truth just by looking at them. This power causes some problems though, because everytime a Pusher in on screen you never know whether what other people are doing is real, or if they are bein manipulated.
I heard a lot of people describe this movie as "the one where Dakota Fanning wears a skirt." And that is true, she wears a skirt the whole time. Not in this movie, but I am calling it, in like a year or so, she is going to be really hot. I think the only other movie I have seen Dakota Fanning in was War of the Worlds where she was the most annoying character in the history of film. So thankfully she is not that annoying in this movie. This movie also co stars Camilla Belle who I think is probably the hottest actress working today, even though I have never seen a movie with her in it before. Her acting isn't anything special in this movie, but then again this isn't really a good movie to showcase acting talent in.
Based on the trailer for this movie you would think that there is a lot of action. There really isn't though. However the bits (including a big scene at the end) where there is action are really welld done. There should have been more.
One of my favorite things about this movie was that it was set in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is probably the place I want to visit the most in the world. If anybody wants to go with me, let me know, it would be real bonus if you speak Cantonese by the way. I blame my love for Hong Kong on watching too many John Woo and Chow Yun Fat movies. Hong Kong is such a big and colorful city, only Tokyo comes close in comparison. It provides a great back drop for this or any story. I am about to post a link to a picture that shows what an awe inspring place Hong Kong can be WARNING THIS IS A GIANT PICTUE, so it will take a while to load, but it is totally worth it.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Hong_Kong_Skyline_Restitch_-_Dec_2007.jpg
The plot of Push starts off okay but gets really muddled down as it goes. All the various powers really just make the story confusing. When you have characters that can predict the future and others that can convince you that you are really on the other side instantly, its hard to know what is real or what is going on, or why. Half of the set up for the finale of the film is just setting up fake events to confuse the people who predict the future but all that does is waste time and probably confuse some people in the audience.
So what did I think of this movie? I really don't know. I can't tell if I liked it or not. There are some things I liked about it, but parts of the plot were stupid and distracting. I also predicted teh final scene with about an hour left in the movie, not to brag or anything. I guess there are worse ways to watch 2 hours watching a movie.
2 or 3 Stars... aka, I am still not sure
Similar to: X Men, Heroes, The 4400
I heard a lot of reviews comparing Push to Heroes, and even though I have never seen Heroes, it sounds like comparison is about right. In the movie a bunch of people have special powers, results of experiment done by the government. Well of course, there are good guys with powers, and bad guys with powers. Based on the previews and the name of the movie I expected everybody to have the same power. I expected them to all be throwing objects and people all around the screen using their mine, but thats not the case. There are a bunch of differnet power sets, each with their own cool name, "Wipers" "Sniffers"etc. "Pushers" seem to be the most powerful, they can make anyone believe anything as the truth just by looking at them. This power causes some problems though, because everytime a Pusher in on screen you never know whether what other people are doing is real, or if they are bein manipulated.
I heard a lot of people describe this movie as "the one where Dakota Fanning wears a skirt." And that is true, she wears a skirt the whole time. Not in this movie, but I am calling it, in like a year or so, she is going to be really hot. I think the only other movie I have seen Dakota Fanning in was War of the Worlds where she was the most annoying character in the history of film. So thankfully she is not that annoying in this movie. This movie also co stars Camilla Belle who I think is probably the hottest actress working today, even though I have never seen a movie with her in it before. Her acting isn't anything special in this movie, but then again this isn't really a good movie to showcase acting talent in.
Based on the trailer for this movie you would think that there is a lot of action. There really isn't though. However the bits (including a big scene at the end) where there is action are really welld done. There should have been more.One of my favorite things about this movie was that it was set in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is probably the place I want to visit the most in the world. If anybody wants to go with me, let me know, it would be real bonus if you speak Cantonese by the way. I blame my love for Hong Kong on watching too many John Woo and Chow Yun Fat movies. Hong Kong is such a big and colorful city, only Tokyo comes close in comparison. It provides a great back drop for this or any story. I am about to post a link to a picture that shows what an awe inspring place Hong Kong can be WARNING THIS IS A GIANT PICTUE, so it will take a while to load, but it is totally worth it.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Hong_Kong_Skyline_Restitch_-_Dec_2007.jpg
The plot of Push starts off okay but gets really muddled down as it goes. All the various powers really just make the story confusing. When you have characters that can predict the future and others that can convince you that you are really on the other side instantly, its hard to know what is real or what is going on, or why. Half of the set up for the finale of the film is just setting up fake events to confuse the people who predict the future but all that does is waste time and probably confuse some people in the audience.
So what did I think of this movie? I really don't know. I can't tell if I liked it or not. There are some things I liked about it, but parts of the plot were stupid and distracting. I also predicted teh final scene with about an hour left in the movie, not to brag or anything. I guess there are worse ways to watch 2 hours watching a movie.
2 or 3 Stars... aka, I am still not sure
It's funny you bring up John Woo. I am in the process of acquiring The Killer and Hard Boiled. I am excited for both films. Which brings to mind, if you aren't reading Criminal and Incognito, you should. Each issue has a review of obscure noir stuff at the end. A while back they featured John Woo.
ReplyDeleteIn other Hong Kong talk, tonight we are watching Infernal Affairs (the movie the Departed was based on as you prolly already know).
PS- I would love to go to Hong Kong someday.
John Woo is probably my favorite director and Chow Yun Fat is probably my second favorite actor. I have seen so many obscure Chow Yun Fat movies, its not even funny. I have the 2 disc edition of Hard Boiled and I actually have The Killer on VHS, and a kick ass Killer poster in my room. If you were here you oculd borrow them. I also have bunch of random CYF movies burned to DVD. After you watch those two, watch the A Better Tomorrow movies then watch Once Upon a Theif, its an action comedy from those two that is really funny and really underrated.
ReplyDeleteI found a forum with comics, I just have to register for it first, then I can download more stuff like Criminal.
I have only seen Inferal Affairs, neither of the sequels, and I watched it so long ago I feel like I would be lost when it came to watching them now.
I watch a lot of HK action movies, probably too many. Though I have been slacking lately, and am not sure what new stuff is good.
Woo's got a new one out: RED CLIFF. It's suppose to be pretty good. It grossed over 100 million bucks supposedly.
ReplyDeleteRed Cliff is split into 2 movies on DVD at least, I am pretty sure both parts are out on DVD in teh US now but for some reason Netflix says neither are available, its really pissing me off. I might have to go to video store and see if they have them in stock.
ReplyDelete