As a child of the fifties I grew up reading science fiction. It was a time when the incredible things we read about were actually beginning to become reality. With technology making daily leaps and bounds Sci-Fi has to delve into different arenas so many authors of the genre are looking inward to expanded definitions of human abilities. This is particularly effective as a driving theme since few of us have any realistic chance of traveling to a distant planet but we all can dream of possessing incredible powers such as moving objects with our minds. Stories like this allow for any regular person able to obtain super powers through the right set of genes; no radioactive spiders necessary. Circumstances like this are great for pulling in an audience as evident by the success of film franchises like ‘X-Men’ and television series such as ‘Heroes’. Extraordinary abilities like this formerly required the intersession of technologies like radiation or ‘cosmic rays’ but now science has focused its concentration on the very language used to write the parameters of life; ‘DNA’ re can clone dead animals and create glowing cats so it is not much of a stretch to reading minds and moving objects. One of the latest offerings in this expanding field is ‘Push’. This is a prime example of a trailer making promises that the film could not quite live up to but after watching the entire flick on afternoon it has to be said it turned out as a reasonably good popcorn flick. The film could have been better; perhaps even worthy of a sequel but it meandered off track and never true reached its potential. The film reportedly cost $38 million; extremely low for an action laden Sci-Fi flick and what return failed in the theatrical release will certainly be more than achieved with the DVD and Blu-ray editions.

The scripting chores were handled by David Bourla who does have several previous Sci-Fi action flicks previously to his credit. Bourla has one of the most offbeat starts to a career in film by directing three movie parodies acted entirely by thumbs; ‘The God thumb’, ‘Bat thumb’ and ‘Frankenthumb’ they are, as you may imagine completely surreal albeit funny. You have to give credit to a professional who is working on refining his style. The first departure that Boura makes in striking out in this new direction is to attempt to craft a character centric story infused with action. While some missteps where made here they were obviously more from bring on a learning curve a refinement of style than lack of talent. Bourla may have just bitten off more than he was ready for here. The nature of this story is predicated on a complicated and elaborate back story. The audience has to juggle some nine different ability types and properly place them within the frame work of a long term government conspiracy and the resultant resistance movement plus a touch of Asian gangs thrown in for good measure. That is an awful lot for a relative newcomer to cram into 111 minutes. I have to give the man a lot of credit for an honest effort on the road to better things. What remains is a strong core story that takes awhile to get moving but provides enough action in the third act to satisfy most fans of the genre and set the stage for some excellent special effects.

The director of this movie, Paul McGuigan, has only a few prior times in the big chair but does exhibit considerable promise. Some may remember his first big splash on the screen with the A-list heavy crime thriller, ‘Lucky Number Slevin’. McGuigan does manage to hold the focus on the action although there is a loss of the story’s narrative before the midpoint is reached. The major factor contributing to this is once again inherent in the details of the main plot devices. When you have characters able to foresee the future and also act to change it the details of the story become a moving target. Admittedly this is a two edged sword since it also keeps the audience constantly engaged. It is obvious that McGuigan wanted to create something beyond the usual high octane action Sci-Fi and he almost pulls it off. This may have been better served as a television miniseries since there is a lot of foundation required to full follow the intersecting plot lines. The main story line involves a top secret faction within the government called ‘The Division’ who has been covertly at work for decades tracking and using people with paranormal abilities to further their sinister objectives. For many years their researchers have been trying to perfect a serum that world greatly enhance an individual’s abilities. Every test ended the same way killing the subject until one young woman, Kira Hudson (Camilla Belle), survives. She grabs the serum and escapes becoming the primary target for the division. Kira is a powerful ‘Pusher’ able in infuse thoughts, ideas and even memories on anyone. Hot one the trail is Agent Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou) who is a powerful Pusher in his own right and is able to operate without regard to any laws or regulations. In Hong Kong expatriated American Nick Gant (Chris Evans) is eking out a meager existence using his ability as a ‘Mover’ (telekinetic’ to cheat rather unsuccessfully at dice. This places him between the Division and an ability laden Tong. Both groups are using ‘Sniffer’ to locate him. These are people able to find anyone using things they have touched. Without warning Nick is pulled into more trouble by a 13 year old ‘Watcher’ Cassie Holmes (Dakota Fanning). Like her mother before her seen can see the future only her talent hasn’t fully developed yet leading to much confusion.