Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

53 Australia
33 Bedtime Stories
41 Beverly Hills Chihuahua
67 Bolt
24 Bride Wars
38 Confessions of a Shopaholic
79 Coraline
35 Crossing Over
70 Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The
82 Dark Knight, The
40 Day the Earth Stood Still, The
68 Doubt
31 Fired Up
36 Fly Me to the Moon
41 Four Christmases
34 Friday the 13th
72 Gran Torino
47 He's Just Not That Into You
51 Hotel for Dogs
47 Inkheart
52 International, The
46 Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
61 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
50 Madea Goes to Jail
53 Marley & Me
84 Milk
51 My Bloody Valentine 3-D
29 New in Town
60 Notorious
40 Outlander
39 Paul Blart: Mall Cop
36 Pink Panther 2
36 Push
69 Revolutionary Road
49 Soul Men
30 Spirit, The
21 Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
50 Taken
53 Tale of Despereaux, The
56 Twilight
30 Unborn, The
77 Under the Sea 3D
44 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
43 Uninvited, The
56 Valkyrie
70 Vicky Cristina Barcelona
xx Watchmen
46 Yes Man

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

31 American Affair, An
76 Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
70 Black Balloon, The
49 Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh
51 Breakfast with Scot
33 Caller, The
44 Chandni Chowk to China
63 Changeling
64 Che
60 Cherry Blossoms
92 Class, The
58 Defiance
45 Delhi 6
43 Donkey Punch
27 Echelon Conspiracy
56 Eleven Minutes
66 Examined Life
45 Fanboys
69 Fear(s) of the Dark
80 Frost/Nixon
86 Gomorrah
40 Good
84 Happy-Go-Lucky
21 House of the Sleeping Beauties
50 How About You
79 I've Loved You So Long
69 Just Another Love Story
79 Katyn
57 Last Chance Harvey
82 Let the Right One In
17 Lodger, The
58 Luck by Chance
63 Medicine for Melancholy
25 Memorial Day
74 Must Read After My Death
43 Not Easily Broken
xx Objective, The
81 Of Time and the City
34 Otto; or Up with Dead People
78 Pray the Devil Back to Hell
82 Rachel Getting Married
58 Reader, The
65 Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
80 Serbis
49 Shadows
76 Silent Light
86 Slumdog Millionaire
82 Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
67 Synecdoche, New York
13 Trouble with Romance, The
75 Two Lovers
83 U2 3D
xx Velveteen Rabbit, The
91 Waltz with Bashir
81 Wendy and Lucy
81 Wrestler, The

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Push
Summit Entertainment


6.1

based on 21 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 26 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA 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)

GENRE(S):	Sci-fi \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	David Bourla
DIRECTED BY:	Paul McGuigan
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: February 6, 2009
RUNNING TIME:	111 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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...

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Village Voice Aaron Hillis

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

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.

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.

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.

New York Post Kyle Smith

A grubby cut-price sci-fi thriller.

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 26 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Paul K. gave it a9:
Don't let the critics fool you on this one. Remember, they are paid to give their opinion and most of them probably didn't want to see Push and dislike this entire genre. That said, Push was hella rad. Setting the whole thing in Hong Kong was a genius stroke that allowed for a more urgent and almost claustrophobic feel, which is in line with the plight of the central characters. The plot is clearly deravitive of X2 or Volume 4/Fugitives of Heroes, but that's what makes this movie so great. We all want (a) realistic bad guy(s) who is/are really BAD and good guys who are in serious peril and may or may not survive and Push delivers on this premise. If you pay attention and understand what each of the character's powers are and how they can be manifested in different situations, the third act will be anything but confusing, right down the mult-interpretive ending. Since the screen fades to black, what actually does happen in that final scene? Hopefully this will kill at the box office and franchise will be born.

Adam O. gave it an8:
I liked it a lot. I thought it was interesting how deep the backstory was and how far they could potentially take it. The story was a little jumbled, but it was justified being that most of the plot was planned over 13 years beforehand by a powerful psychic. The action sequences were well done and the acting was well especially Fanning who changed the characters she usually plays completely and did it quite well. I gave it an 8 because it was very well executed but some of the characters (the shadow for instance) seemed to be simply thrown in.

Laura S gave it a1:
The plot was so bad it was laughable. I found myself wanting something to explode to try to keep entertained, but even the explosions were not enough to make this movie watchable. It took everything I had to stay throughout the whole thing, though I should have left with some of the other people in the theatre half way through. Awful

Joe D. gave it a9:
Ignore the critics on this one - it's entertaining, and the acting is good. The plot has a few twists, and it kept me involved throughout the movie. i liked it enough to hope for a sequel.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page

Push Summit Entertainment

Push
Summit Entertainment