Some movies tend to come out at a time when the audience isn’t ready for them, others don’t have a plausible story line, and then again, others just aren’t given much of a chance to develop into something that might be worthwhile. When it comes to Push though, one of Chris Evans’ lesser-known movies, it’s likely that it was ahead of its time and didn’t really get the kind of development that it needed since in reality the plot and premise could have been used to push another movie or a TV show that might have lasted for at least a season or two. Push actually predates Evans’ emergence as Captain America by a couple of years but came well after his stint as Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. The movie gave him a kind of reluctant hero/bad boy image that was a little hard to fully believe but was easier to accept when it was apparent that he was a guy that was down on his luck and had been trying to stay off the radar for most of his life. Having been born a Mover, a person that can use telekinesis to move things with their mind, Evans’ character, Nick is a guy that has fled his home country in order to avoid the Division, a government agency that is tasked with tracking down and experimenting on people with psychic abilities.
There are many different types of psychics in this movie, and the Movers are perhaps one of the most powerful and yet the most vulnerable as well since while they can move things about and even deflect bullets, the Watchers and the Pushers are those that can divine the future in various ways and convince people into doing what they tell them, respectively. The plot centers around a new drug that Division has created that can boost the powers of any psychic it’s injected into, with the downside being that it’s proven too strong for any individual to withstand. When Kira, a member of Division, takes the drug and bonds with it she grabs an extra vial and disappears, prompting Division to go after her and to seek out Nick in turn since Kira and Nick were once in a relationship when they were still part of Division. The movie is one that critics weren’t all that kind to for a number of reasons, one of them being that it felt too rushed, too unfocused, and not nearly convincing enough. In truth it has a good story, it did recoup its budget but didn’t do much more than that, and it could be something that might great to bring back thanks to the current trend in the supernatural and hero-based movies and shows that have been so dominant for the last decade and more. Simon Andrews of Screengeek tends to agree with his assessment of the movie.
It kind of feels safe to say that Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning wouldn’t be up for coming back but until they’re asked it might be best to just leave that comment as it lies. Really though, it would be great to see another movie like this, perhaps a sequel or perhaps a remake or reboot that was given a more even pace and a lot more development so as to interest people in the difference between a Mover, a Pusher, and a Watcher, not to mention the many other designations that were given to the other psychics throughout this world. Coming as this one did between the release of two of the MCU’s greatest superhero movies it’s fair to say that Push didn’t really get a lot of attention because of its own hurried nature and because there was simply too much going on to really give the movie the time of day. But it would be great to see someone with enough ambition try this movie yet again, and it would even be worthwhile to see it turned into a TV show since all in all it could go on for a while considering how many different psychics exist in the world. Given the difference between them and the possibility of a variance in the power sets it might even be fair to state that a TV show would go even further than a movie could, though of course the flash and pomp of the big screen would be a great place to see this story played out again. Plus, if the original cast that survived the first one did come back it might be even more interesting if their characters were even more powerful and had to take on Division in an all out war that raged throughout the streets and cities across the map.
As far as movies that deserve another shot go this one should be somewhere near the top of the list since it had the kind of story that people are drawn to these days and could possibly be very entertaining.
