Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Push 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 9, 2018

It’s taken a while, but I believe I’ve finally figured out how Lionsgate is deciding which of its catalog items to release on 4K UHD. I first started commenting on the seemingly random array of Lionsgate 4K UHD titles maybe about a year ago, and the studio’s arguably weird choices have continued apace in the subsequent months. But it finally occurred to me that there must be a low level functionary, someone with a solid if generic name like Carl or Fred, tucked away in a basement office in a top secret Lionsgate location, tasked with a very special job. This gentleman is equipped with a dartboard labeled with every Lionsgate release in the studio’s history and Carl and/or Fred simply dons a blindfold, takes out a dart, fires it in the general direction of the wall, and then a team of scientists measures whatever the closest title to the dart’s arrival spot is. Voila! — a new Lionsgate 4K UHD release has been announced. Hopefully my joking tone is obvious, but Lionsgate does in fact seem to have a release “strategy” (if it can even be called that) vis a vis its 4K UHD product that may cause a few heads to be scratched. The latest two releases, Push and Knowing, at least have a couple of common threads between them, including both expoiting a science fiction premise and each beginning with a flashback. That said, even their science fiction underpinnings don’t automatically lead to a consistent “wow” factor in the visuals department in either film, and neither film was met with universal acclaim when it was released theatrically or even in earlier home video incarnations. Interestingly, though, Lionsgate has provided both of these releases with new Dolby Atmos tracks, and both films offer a number of interesting elements in their sound mixes that may recommend these outings to audiophiles even if they're not that interested in the actual films. Each release also touts one new brief supplement exclusive to the 4K UHD disc.

Like its new 4K UHD “stable mate” Knowing, Push came out on Blu-ray way back in 2009 (on the same date as Knowing, in fact), and was, again like Knowing, reviewed by my colleague Martin Liebman at that time. Unlike with Knowing, however, Marty's and my opinions about Push are much more in line. Marty loved Knowing, while I found it at least occasionally laughable, taking itself much too seriously for its own good. Whatever the manifest flaws of Push may be, there’s at least a surface level of winking fun to be had throughout the film, much of which is due to Chris Evans, who has a decidedly more “loosey goosey” ambience (for want of a better descriptor) than the ultra serious Nicolas Cage offers in Knowing. As Marty points out in his review, one of the biggest issues facing Push is that it is in essence a retread of any number of other properties (X-Men springs instantly to mind) that feature “mutants” with “special powers” attempting to outrun nefarious governmental black ops types.

What perhaps harms Push is that it doesn’t offer the same kind of full blown “live action comic book” that the X-Men franchise typically does, and instead tries to toe a middle line where the more fantastic elements of the plot conceit are supposedly “grounded” in a somewhat (emphasis on somewhat) more “realistic” ambience. It’s a really kind of odd, discomfiting approach that coasts a considerable distance on Evans’ undeniable charisma and athleticism, but the film doesn’t even really exploit the kind of fantastic visuals the science fiction outings featuring folks with superhuman abilities have tended to over the years. Instead, there’s a kind of gritty, even lurid, quality to many scenes that suggest that whatever “particular set of skills” these mutants have, they’re not powerful enough to escape really ratty living conditions.

Push 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots were sourced from the 1080p Blu-ray.

Push is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with a 2160p transfer in 2.35:1. Push is kind of an odd duck to attempt to analyze in its 4K iteration, since it was so seriously tweaked in a variety of ways in post, including intentionally distressing various imagery and offering almost lo-fi looking moments that are riddled with noise, macroblocking and other things that we typically frown upon in our reviews. But, here's the thing — this is another 4K UHD release from Lionsgate that was shot on film (both 16mm and 35mm) where I personally just don't quite think the grain resolves naturally, even in scenes (relatively) free of any tweaking. Grain tends to swarm unnaturally at times, clumping here and there and even occasionally looking fairly noisy itself, and not (as might reasonably be expected) dependent solely on whether any given moment is culled from a 16mm or 35mm source. It's something I've noticed in other Lionsgate 4K releases, but here it may admittedly be somewhat ameliorated by the fact that so much of this film has been deliberately skewed to look almost hallucinatory. Fine detail levels rise expectedly as they often do from 2K DI sources, but again often fairly subtly, as in the pores on Djimon Honsou's face or even the stubble on Chris Evans' face. Like Knowing on 4K, some of the most remarkable change actually comes courtesy of Dolby Vision. The palette is, as mentioned above, almost lurid at times, with a kind of neon fluorescent quality that pops with some extremely distinctive hues in 4K UHD. Reds and yellows especially caught my eye in this presentation, and even within these general tonal areas there are some really interesting new gradations, as in a largely red bathed club/casino scene, where Dolby Vision adds a slightly orangish cast.

Push 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Marty gave top marks to Push's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix on the original Blu-ray release, so there's no way for me to indicate via a score that the Dolby Atmos track takes an already excellent and quite viscerally exciting sonic experience and ups the ante considerably. There are a number of standout elements in the Atmos mix, including the pulsing, throbbing score by Neil Davidge, which acquires a new spaciousness in this outing, as well as what to my ears sounds like increased emphasis on the low range, something that really adds some momentum to some underscored sequences. Sound effects associated with the various "mutants", including a kind of whip pan effect when "pushers" activate, or a more wafting effect when "sniffers" start, well, sniffing, have increased overhead presence now and add quite a bit of fun to the proceedings. A chaotic urban environment helps to support good use of the side and rear channels as well, with a glut of effects like traffic and crowd noises. Dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly on this very enjoyable track.

Push 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Lionsgate has commendably included all of the supplements from the original 1080p Blu-ray release on the new 4K UHD disc, along with one new (very brief) one. As I mentioned in our Knowing 4K Blu-ray review , Marty's original Blu-ray review was written so long ago that it doesn't have the listing format we employ now, so I'm detailing everything that way:

• Audio Commentary with Director Paul McGuigan, Actors Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 3:19) feature optional commentary by director Paul McGuigan.


• The Science Behind the Fiction (HD; 9:17)


• Push: Breaking Down the 9 Types of Psychics (HD; 2:13) is the sole new supplement on the 4K UHD disc, a kind of "meh" overview (again, pretty much exactly like the brief new supplement detailed in our Knowing 4K Blu-ray review) of the various superpowers various characters have in the film.

Push 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I guess I could be cheekily dismissive and say if you watch only one film about mutants with extraordinary powers that came out on Blu-ray in 2009, I'd stick with X-Men. But there are some things that may recommend Push to some viewers, even if the entire film isn't to their liking. First of all, Evans makes for an appealing and accessible hero. Second, the film has an undeniable style that's almost surreal at times. Third, this new 4K UHD version at least offers a stupendous accounting of the film's interesting sound design via the new Dolby Atmos track. The sole new supplement is not exactly a game changer.