Push

Imagine a world where seemingly ordinary, everyday people living among us were granted the gift of super powers. If you’re thinking that I’m referring to NBC’s hit show “Heroes” you wouldn’t be too far off the mark, as this is essentially the primary concept on which that series is based. Even though the premise sounds an awful lot like that show, what I’m actually referring to is the recently released sci-fi drama, “Push” starring Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, and Djimon Hounsou.

“Push” focuses on just a few of the many super-powered beings that populate our world, as they battle an evil government organization known as “Division”. When a young telepath named Kira (Camilla Belle), whose ability classifies her as a Pusher, escapes from a Division compound with a very valuable secret in her possession, Division must unleash its most powerful assets, led by an even more powerful Pusher known as Carver (Djimon Hounsou), to bring her back. To save herself Kira must rely on Cassie (Dakota Fanning), a 14-year old Watcher (one who sees the future or a possible future), and Nick (Chris Evans), a telekinetic Pusher.

When watching “Push” one quickly begins to realize that if they are a fan of the TV show “Heroes”, they need to do their best not to think too much about the similarities between the two entities. I understand that finding an original idea in television and film is becoming much harder to accomplish; however, when an idea for a film appears to be an almost blatant carbon copy it gets to be a little bit frustrating. That being said, while “Push” closely resembles “Heroes” in many respects, I did do my level best to attempt to ignore those similarities and just judge the movie on its own merits. I will admit I do have to deduct some points for the obviousness of how unoriginal this idea for a film truly was.

Screenwriter David Bourla (“Larceny”) does start things off by earning the film some credit by approaching these super-powered beings in a way I hadn’t expected. Bourla chose to actually have the characters be accustomed to their powers, and in some cases thoroughly enjoy having them at their disposal. I had anticipated that there would be some characters that despised their lot in life and would view their powers as a curse more than anything else; while that does occur in one or two instances, for the most part every one of these individuals appear perfectly content with their abilities. This is one aspect of the story that was more of an original thought for a movie such as this. In truth, it is the approach that I wish “Heroes” would have chosen to go with for the majority of their characters, rather than having so many of them loathing their circumstances. Anyways, I digress.

Aside from that initial approach to super-powered beings, the remainder of the screenplay trudges along at a menial pace, plagued by several bouts of cliché-ridden or simply bland dialogue, until it is time for another requisite action sequence to show off one or more of the characters super powers. While the dramatic areas of the film leave something to be desired, at least the action scenes were entertaining, allowing the audience moments of excitement to break up the monotonous proceedings.

One other major gripe regarding the story of this film is that the second half falls prey to several major plot holes and logic errors that cause the movie to completely crumble under its own weight. Not to mention the final moments of the movie leave several plot threads dangling, obviously in hopes of a sequel; however, the film isn’t strong enough to support another installment. Truth be told, the writer, and for that matter the director, producer, or anyone else involved in the production of this film, should have realized that the prospect of a follow-up was an ill-conceived notion. Therefore, the story should have been much more resolved at the film’s closing with only minor plot points left open for the possible (unlikely) sequel.

Director Paul McGuigan (“Lucky Number Slevin”) imbues the film with a gritty, realistic tone, and his choice of lessening the flashiness of the visual effects employed for the various powers was a wise decision that strengthened the overall feel of the movie. I also enjoyed the vast amount of detail on display in a majority of shots in the movie, but I did find it distracting that the director chose to apparently switch cameras at random. This choice resulted in some scenes, or moments within a scene, to be covered in a very thick layer of visible grain that is absent the rest of the time. The random moments of heavy grain over the image and occasional flashes of bright white or washed out scenes made me wonder if Paul McGuigan was trying to make this movie more artistic than it could ever hope to be. Whatever the intention for those odd choices, the result was a mixed bag of visuals that left me bewildered in the end.

Starring in this wannabe superhero flick is Chris Evans, who is no stranger to special effects intensive movies after his work on the two “Fantastic Four” films. As an actor Chris was able to show off a little more of his acting prowess in this film than he was in the aforementioned. However, having seen several movies where Chris’ characters are more sarcastic in nature, I found myself wishing for a little more levity from his character than what was on display. Alongside Chris is the talented Dakota Fanning (“Man on Fire”). Dakota has impressed me with her acting talent for quite some time, and for someone so young she knows how to draw the audience in, but in this film her role just wasn’t enjoyable. At times I actually found Dakota’s character somewhat irritating, and wished that she would have received far less screen time.

Joining Chris and Dakota as a super-powered fugitive is actress Camilla Belle (“10,000 B.C.”) who plays her role in a manner that is so bereft of emotion that one could almost conclude that she had absolutely no desire to be in the film. I find it extremely annoying when an actor or an actress agrees to a role and then proceeds to play the part without any shred of conviction. Why sign onto a movie if you don’t actually care to put forth an appropriate amount of effort? Rounding out the primary cast of characters is the underrated Djimon Hounsou (“Blood Diamond”). Unfortunately, Djimon’s role in this film as the lead antagonist won’t be garnering him any more attention for his work, but his role in the movie is a highlight as he brings such a powerfully commanding presence to any character he portrays.

“Push” is a movie conceived as a painfully obvious attempt to cash in on a trend, such as the continued success of comic book movies or the popularity of “Heroes”; however, due to its lack of originality and coherence in the last half of the film, it falls well short of its much more capable contemporaries.

“Push” is rated PG-13 for violence and language.

Friday the 13th (2009)

After hacking and slashing his way through ten films, although to be fair his mother did the killing in the first film, Jason Voorhees’ film career looked to be getting more mundane and inept with each passing sequel. With every new installment the killing was getting bloodier and more pointless as each victim became less and less likeable; meanwhile, the stories were becoming even more simplistic and at times downright ridiculous (“Jason X”, need I say more). Even after horror fans flocked to see the masked one go toe-to-toe with Elm Street’s master of our nightmares in “Freddy Vs Jason”, it seemed that getting Jason to go on another solo spree in a new “Friday the 13th” wasn’t something fans were all that anxious to see. However, in the same year the two titans of terror came to blows, producer/director Michael Bay released a successful retooling of an old horror classic “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. With the success of that reboot, along with the remake of “The Amityville Horror” two years later, it appeared audiences were interested in seeing some of their old favorites dusted off and brought into modern times. This brings us to 2009 and the return of Jason Voorhees in Marcus Nispel’s re-imagining of “Friday the 13th”.

“Friday the 13th” follows the bloody exploits of masked killer Jason Voorhees as he disposes of any and all trespassers who are unfortunate enough to come onto the property of the now defunct Camp Crystal Lake. Six weeks after a group of hikers mysteriously disappeared near the former camp; a brother to one of the hikers (Jared Padalecki) arrives in search of his missing sister. At the same time, a group of friends looking forward to a weekend full of carefree merriment soon find themselves inadvertently wandering off the beaten path and catching the eye of Jason. With the body count rising as Jason mercilessly dispenses his sentence upon all who come near; survival quickly becomes the order of the day. The question is, “How many of these unwitting young adults will make it out of the area alive?”

After ten movies focusing either directly or indirectly on the story of Jason Voorhees, not to mention that after the fourth or fifth sequel the quality of the remainder of the films dropped drastically, one would not be out of place to wonder if yet another “Friday the 13th” was warranted. Personally, I’ve never been all that much of a fan of the “Friday the 13th” series; I was more intrigued by the “Halloween” franchise (at least the first two films and then “H20”). I will admit that “Freddy Vs Jason” was an entertaining horror film that was much smarter than anything either of the series’ had delivered separately to audiences in some time. With that in mind, I didn’t exactly walk away with a desire to see another stand alone sequel in either character’s series of films.

With all that being said, perhaps you may be wondering why then did I choose to watch this reboot of “Friday the 13th”, especially since I wasn’t a fan of the character’s previous films. My answer would be this, based on what I had seen in the various trailers for the film, it appeared that this installment may be a little more realistic and of a slightly higher quality than all of its predecessors (neither of these achievements would be all that hard to accomplish by the way). Written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (“Freddy Vs Jason”), and directed by Marcus Nispel, who is no stranger to the re-imagined horror film after helming the reboot for “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, this newest “Friday” film is arguably the best this series has seen in its nearly 30 year history.

The story this time around is much tighter in focus and aimed primarily at returning Jason to his roots, minus (for the most part) the cheesy dialogue and bad acting that plagued the initial series’ run. In general, the plot is fairly believable, or as much as it can be given the type of movie and genre it’s in; however, there are a few instances where we’re asked to suspend our brains a little too much in order to go along with something despite it clearly being impossible. Another complaint was that for a little while early on in the movie I found myself wondering if I was actually going to see much more from the story and its characters besides references and usages of drugs and numerous sexual escapades. Eventually, the story finally got moving, and the sex and drugs became less rampant within the movie. In regards, to the dialogue, for the majority of the film it was full of typical teenage banter, but without it being overly annoying. Yet there were a couple of moments where the dialogue took a nosedive and became far too clichéd or inane for its own good. The plot point involving the search for the missing hikers was a neat way of tying the entire movie together, and provided one of only a few characters you actually hoped would survive through to the end of the movie.

The cast of “Friday the 13th” was surprisingly better than your typical horror film cast. That being said, there were still only a handful of characters that I actually became interested in. Leading the cast of semi-familiar faces is Jared Padalecki (TV’s “Supernatural”) as the estranged brother of one of the missing hikers that ran afoul of Jason six weeks prior. Jared brings a charisma and likeability to the character that allows the viewer to actually root for his survival regardless of the built-in sympathy card the writers have included in the movie for him. Joining him in his search is actress Danielle Panabaker (“Mr. Brooks”) as one member of a group of friends that are spending a fun-filled weekend near the old Camp Crystal Lake site. Danielle imbues her character with warmth and innocence, plus there’s a surprising sincerity in her portrayal that cannot be ignored. By all rights, Danielle put more effort into her character than any horror movie role ever calls for, but it was that dedication that elevated her performance far above those of the other actors playing her vacationing friends. The remainder of the supporting cast ranged from good to slightly irritating, but what else should one expect when watching a horror movie?

Lastly, I wanted to touch briefly upon the main driving force of the movie, the monstrosity that is Jason Voorhees himself. In this movie I finally believe that Jason could actually catch one of his victims as he is more proactive in his approach to “hunting”. A much needed new twist to the character was showcased in the time the writers took in showing Jason as more of a predator stalking his prey rather than just a brainless behemoth. The fact that Jason actually runs in pursuit of his victims is a definite, and much appreciated, boost to how much more fearsome he is this time around. As for the Jason’s killings, they are definitely prevalent throughout the story, and the writers have clearly taken advantage of the opportunity provided them by Jason’s newfound smarts to become a little more creative with how he goes about his business. For the horror junkies out there, don’t worry about your favorite, or perhaps I should say one of your favorite, killers going soft after his thirty year run. This is the most violent and hard-hitting of the Jason movies, at least in my opinion.

At its best “Friday the 13th” is a decently entertaining, fast-paced slasher film that cleverly combines all of the strongest elements of the first three movies in the original series while applying a modern twist. When not at its best, the movie devolves into bouts of irritating arguments and conversations that are pointless from the get-go, moments that stretch believability too far or just relying far too much on an over-abundance of sex and drug related scenes. It’s not the best horror film I’ve ever seen, but it is one of the better ones that have been released here lately.

“Friday the 13th” is rated R for violence, language, gore, and sexuality/nudity.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

In 2007, the often critically maligned, yet still box office powerhouse, director Michael Bay (“Pearl Harbor”) presented us with his vision of bringing gigantic transforming robots to life on the big screen. It was big, bold, loud, funny, and above all incredibly entertaining, not to mention taking many audience members by surprise in terms of just how much fun the movie was. I mean seriously, here was a movie based on an animated series from the 80’s that was itself based on a toy line from Hasbro. How could that movie be anything but absurd? Yet, somehow Bay and his writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (“Star Trek”) found a way to make it work that was believable and enjoyable to audiences, thus leading to an incredible amount of money being spent at the box office. Which brings us to the summer of 2009; two years after the initial movie blew audiences away, the inevitable sequel to the smash hit “Transformers” has arrived.

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” picks up approximately two years after the events in the first film. Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is preparing to head off to college sans girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox) and car/guardian Bumblebee. However, Sam’s higher learning shall have to wait as the evil Decepticons have returned to Earth at the behest of their overlord, The Fallen, to locate an ancient artifact of Cybertronian origin that is hidden somewhere on the planet. If the Decepticons locate the relic it would spell certain doom for humanity and the Autobots. Now, Optimus Prime and company must band together to fight their deadliest foes in an effort to ensure that Earth and its people have not seen their last days.

If you saw the original film, and judging by the box office numbers not too many people didn’t, then you kind of know what may be in store for you with the sequel. Everything that worked so well in the previous movie is back, bigger and better than ever for this one. Not to diminish how great “Transformers” was as a movie, because it was incredible; however in my opinion, it was simply the opening act, and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is the main event.

If you presumed that this film was going to be a visual effects extravaganza with a plethora of explosions, then you would be correct; however, it isn’t just a brainless exercise in blockbuster movie making courtesy of Michael Bay as some would have you believe. Written by returning screenwriting duo Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, along with writer Ehren Kruger (“The Ring Two”), the story for “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is much more epic and grand in both scope and size than that of the previous film. In conjunction with all of the visually intensive action sequences, the writing team maintained the quick-witted banter of Sam, increased the presence of his romance with girlfriend Mikaela, and built upon the friendship and camaraderie between him and the Autobots. The film also has some quieter, more introspective moments, as Sam struggles with being a young adult trying to discover who he will be as a man. Meanwhile, he is also keeping secret the fact that his car is a member of an alien race hiding amongst us and that certain members of that alien race may return someday to destroy him and everything he cares about. Talk about having some internal baggage to carry with you. All of these story elements together create a movie experience that has more going for it than being just another mindless action flick.

The original film was truly an achievement in the realm of visual effects by making giant, life-like, transforming robots into a reality. With the sequel, the talented crew at Industrial Light and Magic have topped themselves yet again by delivering an even bigger smorgasbord of extremely detailed (as they were in the first one) Transformers to feast our eyes upon. Plus, because of the fact that their arrival on Earth had already been chronicled in the first film, this one allows us to see the two warring sides of this alien race much sooner, and they are much more prominent in the story as a result. I didn’t know how far technology had come in the realm of CGI in the short time since the previous movie, but it appears that the capabilities these wizards now possess are leaps and bounds above what was available two years ago. For me, “Revenge of the Fallen” possibly sets the new standard for visual effects by which all other movies may be judged.

Returning to join the Autobots in their war against the Decepticons are the two leads in the film, Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, as Sam and Mikaela. Their two characters have matured quite a bit since the last movie, and are now trying to find their place in the outside world. Both characters are also more proactive in this film, and are working hand-in-hand with the Autobots in the effort to thwart the Decepticons’ evil plans. Another aspect of their roles worth mentioning is that their relationship onscreen is very believable, and their commitment to each other in the trying times that follow is a commendable trait that is often found lacking in today’s society.

Alongside Shia and Megan are supporting cast members John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, and Tyrese Gibson. All of these supporting characters are given more to do this time around. Although the characters of Lennox and Epps (Josh and Tyrese respectively) command more respect than last we saw them, it is Turturro’s eccentric former Sector 7 Agent Simmons that has undergone the most change. No longer an agent of the government, Simmons has been relegated to working for his mother. I liked Turturro’s performance in the original film, but his work in this one is even more enjoyable, and his eccentricity seems even better suited to his character now that he is a civilian.

Also returning for more are character actors Kevin Dunn and Julie White as Sam’s parents. In this movie their characters are featured a little bit more in the story, still not major players, but the time they do get on the screen they make the very best of. Both offer several moments of levity, especially Julie White, but we also get to see them go through the difficulty as a parent having to let go of a child who’s growing up. Hopefully we will get to see even more from them in the inevitable third film.

Lastly, the actors giving voice to the various Transformers once again do an excellent job of bringing these characters to life. From returning talents Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime) and Hugo Weaving (Megatron) to newcomers Frank Welker (Soundwave), Tony Todd (The Fallen), and Tom Kenny (Skids), each member delivers a solid performance that perfectly compliments the flawless computer-generated imagery that created these robots. One last thing regarding the voice-over actors, to be truthful saying Frank Welker is a newcomer to Transformers only applies to this movie. In reality, Welker provided many of the voices in the original animated series, most notably those of Megatron and Soundwave.

Boasting an even bigger scope, more action, humor, and almost 3-times as many robots than its predecessor, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is a pulse-pounding, fast-paced thrill ride that will entertain you from beginning to end.

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is rated PG-13 for violence and language.