Told through back alleys, fish markets, and shoddy little hotel rooms, PUSH is by no means a superhero movie. This gritty film smears the lines between good and evil, seemingly casting light in all the wrong places.

How? Because the good guys act in ways we’ve been trained to believe only bad guys do, such as stealing and killing people. This, however, just adds a flavor of realism to a plot of physic powers.

Director Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin) filmed PUSH to fit the perfectly jumbled plot of power, destiny, and everyday life. There’s no hierarchy of power and no proper sense of right and wrong. The characters are just people, struggling to survive by any means possible.

The plot, itself, is vague enough to add to the jumbled sense of everyday life. Granted, the characters don’t run around destroying fish markets and having shoot outs on a daily basis. But, everything is simplistic and set in real time. So, no amazing rescues taking place mid-air or epic battles leaving the heroes unscathed.

There’re just mishaps, mistakes, and seemingly half-assed plans.

Nick (Chris Evans, Fantastic Four) and Cassie (Dakota Fanning, The Secret Life of Bees) make for a comedic but believable duo. Fanning is especially charismatic as the thirteen-year-old future teller who can’t draw worth spit and thinks drinking will help her powers.

Their plight is against Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond), who believes in enhancing the physic powers or killing everyone in trying to do so. But their main objective (though this idea is occasionally lost in the action) is to save Cassie’s mother.

PUSH can be compared to Jumper and Wanted. Overall, however, PUSH is unique because it makes you think. Like Heroes, this movie has everyday people capable of amazing things.

If you could be a Shifter (change the appearance of any object), a Screamer (you yell loud enough to burst ear drums), a Watcher (see the future, which is ever changing), a Mover (similar to telekinesis), or a Pusher (fabricate a reality in someone’s mind, making them believe and do anything), who would you be?

And, how would you use your power? Because, apparently, even the good guys use their powers the same way bad guys do. So, the true question for PUSH is: who are the good guys really?

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Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, entertainment, movie, PUSH