Ello all
I've never really been a fan of Heroes. The show always seemed to grate on me, and while yes, they EVENTUALLY seem to reach an interesting plot twist, I've always felt, it was a movie idea stretched over too much time. Entourage for example, is slick, it's funny, it's interesting, and yet there's no random soap opera type close ups with strange sounds in the background.
So today, as I sat down to watch Push, Paul Mcguigan's Cyberpunk 2009 release, I was kind of hoping, the film would validate my idea that some TV shows only exist because the movie deals probably fell through.
The story is that there's a whole bunch of government 'divisions' which deal solely with people with 'powers.' The difference is, the people with powers aren't called mutants or super heroes or whatever. Instead they're referred to by the powers they have. Considering there's only a handful of these powers, the names are essentially slang for what they do- so people with telekynetic abilities are movers, etc etc etc. The main protagonists are these American kids in Hong Kong, who refreshingly enough, SUCK at using their powers and are happy to admit it. Anyway, they have the power to stop and destroy the whole 'divisions' thing if they work together, and considering there are people who can make you believe lies and erase your memories, they have a pretty hard time doing it. Oh and then, there's the people who can read your intentions and predict the future. Tough spot.
The story line is pretty run of the mill. (Which is saying something really, because there was a time when super heroes and powers were pretty alien to film, but then that's a whole other blog.) The reason I labelled it Cyber punk, was because the director's primary focus in the movie has been on the characters rather than the abilities. In fact, there's plenty of super natural quirks and snippets throughout the film which aren't explained because it's just a waste of screen time explaining. He can make a peice of paper look like money? Yea sure whatever.
Interestingly enough, they only used green screens to make the scenes with traffic and even the scenes with effects are few and far between. In fact, most of the movie was shot with hidden cameras, so there's a very gritty, shaky feel to the whole movie, which is perhaps it's best feature. Honestly, I don't care much for McGuigan's work. Wicker Park and Lucky Number Slevin were very very ordinary films. Slevin in fact, would have been totally shit, if not for the fact that the film had Bruce Willis in it. In this movie though, he's really accomplished something very cool.
The two lead performances are amazing. Chris Evans has slowly become one of my favorite actors, and I suddenly wish he wasn't Johnny Storm, because there's plenty of other heroes he'd totally ace.
However, for me the most compelling performance was from Dakota Fanning. So much so, that this post was originally going to be a 'Rise and Rise of' take on her career. Honestly, I'm amazed that someone who got tossed into the limelight so young, has stayed true to the art form and still turned out to be, what appears to be a pretty level headed person.
She's not the cute blonde little girl with excess maturity in this one...oh no wait- she is. But there's something very different about this performance of hers. (Perhaps playing your own age DOES make sense sometimes.) She's grown into a 14 year old who believe it or not, CAN still act, and will, from the looks of it, go on to wow audiences for many many years to come.
Overall, I would recommend the movie to anyone who's into the genre, but beyond that, it's pretty 'Meh...' If we did the whole stars thing here I'd say 2/5 -maybe 3/5 if I was in a better mood. It's got it's moments and the guerilla shooting is cool and all, but when you pick a super natural theme, you must deliver super naturally.
Ps. It should be noted that Djimon Hounsou is in the film and while he is totally-undeniably-ultra-badass, it was by far his most under whelming performance. He does say 'Fuck Patriotism' though. Got to love that...
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