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Push

EMAILPRINTSummit Entertainment

Push reviews
36
6.3 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 65 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Sci-fi  |  Suspense/Thriller

Written by: David Bourla

Directed by: Paul McGuigan

Release Date:
Theatrical: February 6, 2009
DVD: July 7, 2009

Running Time: 111 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, brief strong language, smoking and a scene of teen drinking

Starring Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle, Djimon Hounsou, Maggie Siff, and Scott Michael Campbell

Push burrows deep into the deadly world of psychic espionage where artificially enhanced paranormal operatives have the ability to move objects with their minds, see the future, create new realities and kill without ever touching their victims. Against this setting, a young man and a teenage girl take on a clandestine agency in a race against time that will determine the future of civilization. (Summit Entertainment)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The strength of Push is its relentlessness. The movie doesn't pause for anything and, when it provides exposition, it does so without bringing the action to a grinding halt.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Push has a cool, sinewy style, energy to burn.

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75

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Superhero fans will likely be into Push just for the cool-factor of watching embattled heroes and villains in tense war of wits, wills, and skills. That broader audience is less likely to come along for the ride.

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70

Washington Post Dan Zak

As fantastical as all that sounds, the pleasure of Push comes from its glamorized grit, its no-nonsense pacing and the committed performances of the actors roughhousing in the gray area between heroism and villainy. It's pure popcorn, popped fresh, doused in butter and sprinkled with soy sauce.

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60

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

Imaginatively filmed by Peter Sova, Push has a dizzying, chaotic energy that pulls you along. Paul McGuigan directs with maximum efficiency and minimum use of computers, creating effects that feel satisfyingly tangible.

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58

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Mostly it's a series of dream-image clues scribbled out by juvenile seer Fanning, followed by super-powered smackdowns between agents and mercenaries with slangy titles like watchers, stitchers and sniffers.

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50

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A weightless, style-driven thriller set in a photogenically chaotic Hong Kong.

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50

USA Today Claudia Puig

A supernatural action thriller, is jangly, jarring and violent. But more disconcerting is watching the sweet-faced Dakota Fanning swear, get drunk and pack heat -- in both fists, no less.

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50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Suggestive of "X-Men," "The Matrix" and the television show "Heroes," Push is one of those time-mangling thrillers that manages to seem both complicated and superficial.

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40

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Fanning's watcher is watchable, yet the kid-actress extraordinaire is so polished it kind of makes your head explode.

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38

Chicago Tribune Glenn Whipp

Director Paul McGuigan ("Lucky Number Slevin") has never been keen on plot logic, and that might be fine here if he offered anything other than Peter Sova's lush images of Hong Kong.

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38

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

At the very least, a movie like this requires coherence to stay afloat. Barring that, it needs a star to distract us.

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38

Premiere Patrick Parker

This completely rips off "Heroes," which itself ripped off a great deal from the "X-Men," so no real imagination here...except for the "Sniffs," who creepily track people by smell.

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30

Chicago Reader Cliff Doerksen

A ragbag of shopworn ideas nicked from Philip K. Dick, this sci-fi thriller never stops finding new ways to make no sense.

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30

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

Despite its high-profile cast and a sizable marketing push from distributor Summit Entertainment, audiences won't require any paranormal powers of their own to realize they've seen this one before.

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30

Village Voice Aaron Hillis

Seems to have been made up as it was being filmed.

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25

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A curiously inert and talky action picture about good-looking mutants on the run from bad (but equally good-looking) ones, Push wastes a decent idea and stylish direction on a script that's much more Ingmar Bergman than Stan Lee.

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25

TV Guide Cammila Albertson

If your tolerance for repetition in genre films is already low, this one will probably push you right over the edge.

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25

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Two awful things about Push are at least interesting: The first is the way in which the story is confused. The second is that the story makes no sense.

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12

New York Post Kyle Smith

A grubby cut-price sci-fi thriller.

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11

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

I saw the original version of this same story 28 years ago. It was called "Scanners" and it blew my mind for real. Push just blows.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 65 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mariana gave it a3:
The worst movie I've ever seen in my life.

Mark B gave it a10:
This movie was fantastic, although it looks like from the reviews you'll either hate it or love it. It's worth watching certainly if you love super hero movies or the matrix. In fact it really feels like it could be a great solid franchise (just better) than the matrix. Sadly because it got panned so badly I don't think this will happen. Fantastic movie though. I heartily recommend it.

Sean F. gave it a3:
How can a film about people with enviable abilities such as telekinesis and future telling be so dull? This was the question circling around my head whilst watching this film. As a whole the film doesn’t appear to have any direction, much like it’s central characters. Evans and Belle as the lead couple are both uncharismatic and look bored throughout. And this essentially goes for the rest of the cast. The only cast member who appears to be putting any effort in is Fanning, playing an already world weary young girl trying to learn how to use her skill, her acting puts the adults to shame. Even the action is dull, as our young central characters learn to hone their skills you would expect the action sequences to likewise become more powerful eye candy, however, it doesn’t, it just continues to be dull. Overall, a film that had so much potential ends up being dull because of a lack of any sense of direction, and poor casting.

Tiffany F gave it a10:
Awesome movie. This movie had a great plot and kept me on the edge of my chair waiting to see what happened next. The idea of this movie was very well thought-out. I hope there will be a sequel.

Derek gave it a4:
The movie had great special effects and some cool -- if not a bit far-out -- powers (come on, blowing up fish by screaming?). That said, it has a plot that's kind of like 500 oz. of grey molasses in a 250 oz. tank: It's slow moving, boring, and they try to fit too much into one movie by leaving complete webs of questions unanswered. If you were like me, you spent the first half hour telling yourself that the plot would turn into something other than random scenes while wondering if that plot twist would ever be explained.

Roderic R gave it a9:
Pretty good. A lot better than the people who blatantly dismiss it. It had a chance to be a 10, but just couldn't do it. Still, worth watching. Dakota Fanning will be a superstar.

Ryan S gave it a4:
The characters had some cool abilities. It was fun to watch them use their super powers. Other than that the movie was slow-moving and mostly uninteresting.

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