History Film / Push

* ViewersAreGeniuses: The film has a very intelligent script and counts on the audience to be smart enough to keep up. It works.

* AntiHero - The morally bankrupt type. Our introduction to Nick is him trying to cheat at dice. And failing.

* {{Badass}} - The fact is, Victor was simply destroying ''everything'', and if Division already has ''him'' on their team, it does not look like they even ''need'' the drug. Of course, if they made him even ''more'' super...well, then it just stops being fair. Nick also has his moments, though, and was giving Victor a run for his money near the end.

** BadassInANiceSuit - Victor
** LittleMissBadass - Cassie.
** TookALevelInBadass - Nick
* BaldOfEvil - Carver, one of the Sniffs (Mac)
* BlondGuysAreEvil - Victor
* TheChessmaster - Both Cassie and the Pop Girl are constantly trying to prove that they're the best chessmaster in the film. Little do they know that they're really just fighting for second place. [[spoiler: The ''real'' chessmaster is Cassie's mom. See Gambit Roulette below.]]

* ClickHello - [[spoiler:Pop Girl clicks off the safety right behind Cassie near the end.]]
* CompetenceZone - Averted. The parents are all far more powerful and skilled at using their powers than the younger psychics.
* CoversAlwaysLie - You see the poster on this page, where Nick telekinetically sweeps through a whole street, throwing cars and such? Yeah, that never happens. Not even close.

* DeadlyUpgrade - The serum has killed every test subject, save Kira.
* DeadpanSnarker - Cassie is chock full of these, and Nick has his occasional moments.

* DifferentlyPoweredIndividual - See the PsychicPowers entry, below
* TheDragon - Victor to Carver, Pop Girl to her father.
* EvilBrit - The mercenary Stitch
* EvilCounterpart - Victor to Nick, Pop Girl to Cassie, and Carver to Kira.
* FaintingSeer - Cassie and her evil watcher counterpart have occasional flutters.

* [[ZettaiRyouiki Golden Thigh Ratio]] - Cassie's jailbait skirt is part of her look as a LittleMissBadass.
* {{Gorn}} - Nick spends half of his screen time on his back writhing in pain.
* GunsAkimbo - A favorite technique of the good guys, [[spoiler: not that they ever get to use them]].
* HealingHands - It's here, but it's VERY painful, and can work in reverse.
* HimeCut - Pop Girl.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard - [[spoiler: Carver]] is killed in exactly the same way that he killed a character earlier in the movie.

* ImprovisedWeapon - A wet floor sign by Kira, chairs and bamboo shoots by Victor.
* InspiredBy - A mild case, as it turns out there actually ''was'' a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project government project]] for investigating psychics.
* InstantExpert - Nick has been a Mover all his life, and he sucks at it at the beginning, barely able to roll some dice. Once it becomes plot important, he suddenly get great at it. It is implied, though, that he had a lot of raw talent, and he just needed more practice or motivation. He's usually surprised when he does something fairly powerful, and he almost always does so after seeing someone else do them (such as Victor and his bullet shields and telekinetic-enhanced punches). He's also consistently a lot better at the big, uncontrolled stuff (i.e., brute force) than he is at the little, fiddly (read: precision) things.
* KarmicDeath - Nick stays his hand and doesn't [[spoiler: kill Victor, who is killed anyway three seconds later by a Bleeder.]]

* LaserGuidedAmnesia - Wipers can remove specific memories, which doubles as a way to throw off Watchers.

* MacGuffinGirl - Kira isn't the MacGuffin ''exactly'', but she stole it, has it in her bloodstream, and is chased after by the villains as the only successful survivor of the super-psychic-serum.
* MagicSkirt - Cassie. Necessary, because the character's all of 13.
* ManipulativeBastard - All Pushers. Especially Carver.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste - Carver.
* MasterOfIllusion - Hook, one of Nick's friends.
* MeaningfulEcho - Carver's "What a waste" line, said after he killed Nick's father and [[spoiler:after he thinks Nick killed himself]].
* MeaningfulName - Cassie is probably named after Cassandra, a prophetess from Greek mythology.
* MeleeATrois - Nick, Cassie and friends vs the Chinese Triad vs Division

* MindRape - Remember that brother you don't have? Well, now you remember every moment of growing up together, and that your best friend/fellow Sniff brutally killed him. And even after you realize it's a push and that you killed the Sniff in revenge for nothing, the memories will still be there clear as day.
* MoreThanMindControl - Being Pushed is this, which [[FridgeBrilliance explains how]] [[spoiler: Nick fought off Carver's push to walk off the edge of the building]].
* MutantDraftBoard - Division hunts down psychics to perform SuperSoldier experiments on, or to draft into voluntary service. Any psychic they don't directly control, or who refuses to be recruited, Division agents either kill them outright or threaten them to ''not'' use their powers, and they employ Sniffs to track down any who disobey this edict. Many psychics live abroad in Hong Kong to keep as far away from the Sniffs as possible.
* NightmareFuelColoringBook - Cassie's drawings of the future.

* OnePersonOnePower - strictly observed.
* ProphecyTwist - Cassie's drawing of a tiger clawing her to death: [[spoiler: Pop Girl getting her memory eviscerated by the wiper with clawed hands in a room filled with cardboard boxes with the logo of a tiger]].
* PsychicAssistedSuicide - Pushers can make you eat your gun.

* PsychicPowers - The basis of all powers in ''Push'':

* ScarilyCompetentTracker - The Sniffs. They used a 10-year old toothbrush with a weak scent to track Nick across several countries before finding him in Hong Kong.
* ScaryBlackMan - Carver. He's played by Djimon Honsou, what do you expect?
* ScrewGunSafety - Some would say that if you're a telekinetic who's not very good at it, you would take extra care to make sure that the pistols you are levitating are not pointed at you when you work the slide.

* ScrewDestiny - Cassie is trying to prevent the future she sees. The villains love YouCantFightFate since their watchers foresee a future in which the heroes all die.
* ScryVsScry - Cassie versus Pop Girl.
* SequelHook - [[spoiler: Nick and Cassie defeated the Pop Gang and the Division agents, and they have the drug. Division(America) wants to keep the drug, and its very existence, away from rival MutantDraftBoard organizations of other countries. Cassie's plan is to trade the drug for Cassie's mom and take down Division. [[IndyPloy How they are going to do that isn't really known yet.]]]]

* ShoutOut - Mind control being described as "pushing" someone was first used in Creator/StephenKing's ''Firestarter'', although as the power works here it's more evocative of a drug dealer "pushing".

* SlidingScaleOfFreeWillVsFate - of the "Prophecies as predictions based on people's intentions" variety.
* SloMo - A dramatic walk down a hallway. Verges on {{Narm}}.
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe - Nick kept a lid on his powers to evade detection by Division so he starts off a relatively unskilled Mover. Once he shook off the cobwebs, he began to develop more finesse; his encounters with the much-stronger and infinitely more {{Badass}} Victor seem to boost his competency via AwesomenessByAnalysis to the point that in their final battle, [[spoiler:he's enough of a match to overpower Victor to nearly beat him to death.]]
* StylisticSuck - Cassie's drawings.

* SuperSerum - The MacGuffin of the plot; Division is testing it on psychics to enhance their powers. It's failed so far in every case, save one.
* SuperSoldier - Division's ultimate goal from their inception during WW II is to weaponize psychics into an unparalleled army.

* XanatosSpeedChess - Once Nick and Cassie realize how they can shut down Pop Girl, things change very quickly, especially when the letters come into play.

* YouHaveFailedMe - Carver "pushes" one of his Sniffs to shoot himself for letting Kira escape and falling for Kira's push that caused him to kill his partner. Carver was willing to send the agent home until the agent insisted he was [[TemptingFate willing to bet his life that there was no way he can be "pushed" again]]. He may have also been genuinely worried that the guy had other implanted thoughts he didn't know about.

* GoldenThighRatio - Cassie's jailbait skirt is part of her look as a LittleMissBadass.

The movie was poorly received at the box office and by critics, getting a paltry 23% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It made a little over $31 million, not counting overseas and DVD sales, so a sequel is unlikely given that it had an estimated budget of $38 million. (Counting overseas, $48 million. Plus another $16 million in DVD sales in just the US!) There was [[http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=62491 a television series]] in development being written by DavidHayter, but the lack of recent news means it has likely fallen into DevelopmentHell, [[AndThatsTerrible which is a damn shame.]]

* {{Badass}} - The fact is, Victor was simply destroying ''everything'', and if the Divison already has ''him'' on their team it does not look like they even ''need'' the drug. Of course, if they made him even ''more'' super...well, then it just stops being fair. Nick also has his moments, though, and was giving Victor a run for his money near the end.

* YouHaveFailedMe - Carver "pushes" one of his Sniffs to shoot himself for letting Kira escape and falling for Kira's push that caused him to kill his partner. Carver was willing to send the agent home until the agent insisted he was willing to bet his life that there was no way he can be "pushed" again. He may have also been genuinely worried that the guy had other implanted thoughts he didn't know about.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Kira]] is pushed into this towards the end of the film.

Push is a movie about Nick (ChrisEvans), a man who lives in perpetual fear of the US version of Division, a worldwide agency of major governments whose goal is to train psychic soldiers. To aid this, Division injects psychics with a [[SuperSerum drug]] to boost their abilities. Only one person, Kira (Camilla Belle), has been able to survive this drug, and she quickly escapes after taking the drug. Nick meets Cassie (DakotaFanning), a [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] 13-year old who can see the future. Together, they track down Kira and a stolen syringe which contains the serum with the hope that finding it will help them bring down Division.

* ScrewDestiny - Cassie is trying to prevent the future she sees.

* MeaningfulEcho: Carver's "What a waste" line, said after he killed Nick's father and [[spoiler:after he thinks Nick killed himself]].

* ScarilyCompetentTracker - The Sniffs. They used a 10-year old toothbrush with a weak scent to track Nick across several countries before finding him in Honk Kong.

** [[spoiler:MindControl Kira spends the battle running, fleeing and using her power to push mooks into dropping their guns or coming to her defense, never killing unless Carver tells her to]].

The movie was poorly received at the box office and by critics, getting a paltry 23% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It made a little over $31 million, not counting overseas and DVD sales, so a sequel is unlikely given that it had an estimated budget of $38 million. (Counting overseas, $48 million. Plus another $16 million in DVD sales in just the US!) There is [[http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=62491 a television series]] in development being written by DavidHayter, but the lack of recent news means it has likely fallen into DevelopmentHell, [[AndThatsTerrible which is a damn shame.]]

** [[spoiler:MindControl Cassie spends the battle running, fleeing and using her power to push mooks into dropping their guns or coming to her defense, never killing unless Carver tells her to]].
* MindRape - Remember that brother you don't have? Well now you remember every moment of growing up together, and that your best friend/fellow Sniff brutally killed him. And even after you realize it's a push and that you killed the Sniff in revenge for nothing, the memories will still be there clear as day.

** Possibly Nick as well, as he was the one who came up with the idea of using notes and mind-wipes. He also wrote all the notes, not showing them to anyone until the right time.

** Promotional images also seem to imply that a "push" involves telekinesis, when it actually revolves around implanting thoughts, movers being the ones capable of moving objects with their mind.

** [[spoiler:Nick's letters can be considered this, especially the one of he and Kira at Coney Island at the end. This is justified by them having dated for quite some time, and by having someone who can see the future on their side.]]

* LaserGuidedAmnesia - Justified with the Wipers.

* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Despite the relatively high total bodycount, female character deaths number exactly [[spoiler: zero]]. The two female villains are specifically scripted to not cross the MoralEventHorizon so the audience won't be upset. They merely get in the way of the heroes, never killing anyone. One pulls a gun and is about to fire but is stopped just in time to avoid facing Karma. Conversely, [[spoiler: all the male villains, including mooks, die, regardless of how bad their actions are.]]
** In a deleted scene [[spoiler: Popgirl kills Stowe (the Stitch) for failing her]]
* MindRape - Remember that time your best friend killed your brother? No? Well, you do now.

* MutantDraftBoard - present, but unclear. It's not made sure if Division just registers and tracks all psychics, or if it makes them actively work for Division, whether they want to or not.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Neither Djimon Hounsou (from Benin) nor Cliff Curtis (from New Zealand) even bothers to try to sound like Americans. It could be that Division is an international organization (Carver does say near the end that he's working specifically for the US), or that the two were recruited from their respective countries to the US, but it's never specified.
** Justified. Not everyone in America has an American accent. A sizable population doesn't even speak English.

* ScarilyCompetentTracker - The Sniffs. They used a 10-year old toothbrush to find Nick.

* SequelHook - [[spoiler: Nick and Cassie defeated the Pop Gang and the Division agents, and they have the drug and are going to use it to save Cassie's mom and take down Divison. [[IndyPloy How they are going to do that isn't really known yet.]]]]
** The very existence of the drug is going to create A LOT of friction among the American Division and other similar forces, to say nothing of criminal organizations. Preventing knowledge of it from spreading is a major aim for the antagonists.

* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe - Nick starts off a relatively unskilled Mover; his encounters with the much-stronger and infinitely more {{Badass}} Victor seem to boost his competency via AwesomenessByAnalysis to the point that in their final battle, he's enough of a match to overpower him to nearly beat him to death.
** He lacks a bit in the finesse category rather than power. Or he is, perhaps, shaking off the cobwebs from NOT using his powers to avoid being detected by Division.

* YouHaveFailedMe - Carver "pushes" one of his agents to shoot himself for letting Kira escape and killing his partner (Kira's "push"). Carver was willing to let it slide until the agent started claiming that there is no way he can be "pushed" again.
** He may have also been genuinely worried that the guy had other implanted instructions, as he said earlier. Given Carver's preferred style of dealing with things, this fear is not without reason.

!!This movie provides examples of:

** Promotional images also seem to imply that a "push" involves telekinesis, when it actually revolves around implanting thoughts, movers being the ones capable of moving objects with their mind.

* FaintingSeer - Cassie and her evil watcher counterpart have occasional flutters.

* GambitRoulette:

* [[spoiler: MemoryGambit]]- Tack on some OmniscientMoralityLicense and you essentially have a non-traceable future, since Watchers [[spoiler: work off of everyone's hypothetical plans.]]
* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Despite the relatively high total bodycount, female character deaths number exactly [[spoiler: zero]]. The two female villains are specifically scripted to not cross the MoralEventHorizon so the audience won't be upset. They merely get in the way of the heroes, never killing anyone. One pulls a gun and is about to fire but is stopped just in time to avoid facing Karma. Conversely, [[spoiler: all the male villains, including mooks, die, regardless of how bad their actions are.]]

** Pushers are able to use MindControl. Really, it's MoreThanMindControl, since it works by implanting and/or overwriting memories.

** Shifters are [[{{MasterOfIllusion}} Masters Of Illusion]], allowing them to morph any object of their choice, though it seems the object does have to be of the same relative size of the object it's being shifted to, and it's temporary.

* ShoutOut - Mind control being described as "pushing" someone was first used in StephenKing's ''Firestarter'', although as the power works here it's more evocative of a drug dealer "pushing".

<<|{{Film}}|>>

The movie was poorly received at the box office and by critics, getting a paltry 23% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It made a little over $31 million, not counting overseas and DVD sales, so a sequel is unlikely given that it had an estimated budget of $38 million. There is [[http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=62491 a television series]] in development being written by DavidHayter, but the lack of recent news means it has likely fallen into DevelopmentHell, [[AndThatsTerrible which is a damn shame.]]