Movie ‘pushes’ its way to the top

Standard formula for an action movie is simple.

You take the American everyman, throw in a blatantly obvious love interest, make sure there’s no relevant back story, add in some easily killed bad guys and a mastermind with a convoluted plan to take over the world and start blowing things up. 

It’s a formula that works and requires little to no changes to make audiences line up to see it.

“Push” takes that formula and mentally shoves it out the window.  

The story is engaging, the bad guys are a pain to get rid of, and nobody wants to take over the world. 

Everyone, including the “hero,” is out to further his or her own agenda, and nobody is really concerned with the well being of society.

“Push” takes place in an unspecified time where people with psychic abilities walk among the commoners and the governments of the world are well aware of their existence. 

Every government has their own “Division,” a group of trained people responsible for rounding up these individuals and turning them into soldiers.

Needless to say, nobody wants to be forced into being a soldier for a shady government organization, so the plot revolves around a group’s avoidance of the supernatural drafting agency.

Probably the best part about the movie is that nobody seems to take him or herself very seriously. 

Veterans Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning have played in supernatural roles before, and look more than comfortable playing psychic misfits. 

Every cast member seems to know they’re part of an action flick, and nobody tries to steal the show with an overzealous performance.

Also, there’s a drunken performance by one of the actresses that is flat out hilarious.

The story is interesting and the cast isn’t annoying, but what about the action?

It’s actually refreshing to see action where intestines aren’t being spewed everywhere. 

The action is driven forward by the powers, and those powers are pretty impressive. 

Pushers control people, Movers are telekinetic, Watchers see the future, and Bleeders scream and kill things. 

There’s a long list of abilities, and they’re all somehow useful in a fight, making sure there are no characters incapable of defending themselves.

So where does this movie go wrong? 

There simply isn’t enough of it. 

The story and characters are engaging, so why not flesh it out more? 

The action is fast paced and exciting, so why not give the audience more than two minutes of it at any given interval? 

Two hours just doesn’t seem like enough time to explore “Push’s” world. 

It has so much to offer and there’s  clearly more to come. The ending pretty much screams “sequel” at the audience, so there is a pretty good chance that a “Push 2” may hit theaters sometime soon. 

Overall, the film is definitely a great first effort, and there’s limitless potential for improvement.