Push   Starring: Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning Icon Home Entertainment RRP: £19.99 ICON10174 Certificate: 12 Available 29 June 2009

Set in a world of psychic espionage and intrigue where the gift to move objects using only the mind, see into the future, create new realities and kill without ever touching the victim, can turn a person into a lethal weapon - or target. When a young man and a teenage girl with extraordinary psychic abilities take on a corrupt government agency littered with paranormal gangsters in a battle they can win only if they can change the future...

Push is a near future sci-fi movie that examines what the world would be like if the numerous reported science experiments, designed to discover whether mankind could harness a range of hidden senses, had actually made a breakthrough. The Nazis were known to have been particularly interested in such experiments and the premise of the movie examines what if they had succeeded and there were a small number of humans who, genetically, were prone to discovering these abilities.

These powers are split into a number of categories which include Movers (who can move items as well as stop objects that are hurled at them - including bullets); Pushers (who can push thoughts into other peoples minds); Watchers (who can see visions of the future); Bleeders (who emit a high-pitched sound which can cause internal bleeding of their victims); Sniffs (who can locate a person's location by smelling an item that they've come into contact with); Shifters (who can make people see things that aren't there - for example giving them a £5 note and making them thing it's a £50 note); Wipers (who can erase others memories); Shadows (who can block the vision of those looking for someone. For example if someone was trying to hide from a Sniff, staying close to a Shadow would ensure that they couldn't be found); and Stitchers (who can perform psychic surgery to heal people's internal organs without an operation).

Of course, it never explores where these skills originate from, nor why no human is able to tap into more than one power, but it does touch on how one organisation has made a breakthrough with a chemical designed to heighten subjects latent talents.

The movie rests squarely on the shoulders of both Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning. And while Evans turns in a great performance, it's Fanning who steals the movie. She is starting to prove that she was not only a great child actress, but is also growing up to be a very impressive adult star.

It was a shame that Djimon Hounsou's character (Agent Henry Carver) was underused. As the main villain in the movie he was pretty two-dimensional, and a little more background or rounding out of his character would have been made for a better movie.

My one real complaint... The ending? A pressurised plane? What was the director thinking?

Extras include audio commentary with director Paul Paul McGuigan, Evans and Fanning; Deleted Scenes (3 min, 04 sec with optional director's commentary); The Science Behind the Fiction (8 min, 54 sec interesting look at real life studies into the paranormal powers mankind may be able to harness).

Highlights of the audio commentary include Fanning proudly announcing the scene where she was hurt by flying debris; Paul McGuigan pointing out to Fanning that her ability to cry on cue will come in very useful when she gets a boyfriend; and the pointing out of Evan's 'limp' acting. Also, during the showdown scene the commentary appears to have been rerecorded for a few minutes with just the director commenting on the action.

7

Darren Rea