It's once again time for He Said/She Said, starring Nick Allen as "He" and Morrow McLaughlin and "She."
She Said:
It's fascinating how this movie just inches into average when all of the individual elements are, conceptually, so extremely cool. Mutant psychic powers are always a romp and the movie itself looks like it's trying out for grainy, wide-lens John Wooesque look-a-like of the year. And despite all that, it's tepid and a wee unoriginal. The underlying story is summed up so hastily in order to get to the action sequences, that there are gaps and holes galore. Plus, the setup itself is so logically immovable the rest of it is actually impossible--there would be no escaping Division if they had the best remote "watchers" in the world and any attempt at elusiveness is just silly and unfeasible.
He Said:
I agree. The logic in this film becomes non-existent, and it was sad to see Push become a brainless action sci-fi almost a la Jumper (but not as atrocious). To ask questions with this movie is to like it even less. It was however interesting that this movie was as equally concerned with its action sequences than it was in its chase. It felt as if story was a bit more important than just something in between the action scenes (of which I would say there aren't many).
The "wee unoriginal" also sounds right, especially when I think about someone I overheard saying it was "like X-Men." Regardless, I'm game for people with special powers even if the movie has no such thing itself, but Push managed to make it a bit lame. The final showdown, though a bit silly was fun.
What is probably keeping me from really raking on Push is its twists, which I felt were genuine and supportive to an otherwise mediocre, Jumper-esque experience. They caught my attention and made the third act much more interesting than expected. What did you think about them?
She Said:
I'm sorry, but in the final "boss" fight, Chris Evans should've had his ass handed to him. The movie was meticulous in showing us how untrained he was and the character he was up against was a true and ferocious warrior. I guess I'd say it was a David and Goliath, except in the real world, Goliath would've stomped David into goo, so I'm not even buying that. If Nick is actually going to succeed when the odds are so impossibly stacked against him, the movie needs to give us some sort of "The One" type backstory, otherwise it's crap. To say Push is "like X-Men" is to give it way too much credit and it's an insult to the first two X-Men films. My friend who saw Push with me described it as being "a John Woo movie on tranquilizers," and I concur. Despite all the fights and explosions, at times, it bordered on dull--which is bizarre. Either the movie pulled off some tricky manuevers or I'm just harder to please than I thought.As for the twists, it was so close to being a deus ex machina, I wasn't too intrigued by them. It was so spotty throughout the film and when they presented the conclusion, they did so with an unjustified "viola!" finish. Unless you craft the twists in the final act from the get-go via foreshadowing and other subtle clues, the effect is pretty mild.
He Said:
I think the dullness that you are talking about can be explained by the fact that the action scenes weren't as amazing as they could've been. In fact, they were kind of silly when you think about it. Floating guns and firing out warps can be a good time but here it really wasn't. And for the record, X-Men 2 was garbage. X-Men 3, despite being a goodie bag of characters well-deserving of more screen time, was better.
As for the twists, though they were thrown at the audience, I accepted them. I was surprised by its changes in direction, despite their bits of logic implausibility. When a certain character didn't turn out to be who we thought he/she was, (vagueness to avoid spoilers), I was surprised. I didn't see the ending coming entirely either. Maybe I was caught up in the blissful ignorance of Push or maybe my brain was fried beyond comparison.
It is disappointing that this movie is so flawed, but I suppose it should've been expected. I thought it started off on an interesting note, visually and with story. That intrigue stayed with me until the movie got deep into justifying brains it didn't have. It is a bit ironic that a movie that can be categorized as "science-fiction" can carry the smallest amount of intelligence. Push is certainly not the first film to be such an example, but with director of Lucky Number Slevin Paul McGuigan I had hoped for better.
Before we wrap it up, what did you think of Dakota Fanning? The audience I was with really ate up her "mature" scenes.
She Said:
I'm not sure you should've gone on the record with X-Men 2, because rabid comic book geeks everywhere agreed that it did the most justice to the original story; and X-Men 3 was a total swan dive. If the CBGs find you, they might do you great bodily harm, which would be a bummer. I enjoy doing these he said/she saids with you.
It appears as though Push is your The Spirit: you know it's lame, you can accept its lameness, but you still sorta enjoyed it. That being said--Ha Ha! You too can fall victim to your own unreasonable subjectivity!
As for Dakota Fanning, I really dig that girl. I've liked her since I Am Sam and I've enjoyed everything she does. In my mind, she was the most interesting aspect to Push--if not for Fanning, big dull snooze-fest. I am really looking forward to seeing the types of projects Fanning tackles in the future. I'd even (reluctantly--and cursing my own self-destructive tendencies) go see a sequel to Push if Fanning was in it.
