Real psi is ridiculously inconsistent, “iffy” and not always robust, at least so far. And while it can be accurate, it’s so unpredictable that even a very long-term, accomplished viewer with a well documented profile can only be predicted on “probable %” accuracy.

Well a new movie coming soon will explore a group of people with ‘psychic abilities’, but with a rather interesting twist: the abilities are apparently not perfect or amazingly robust. This is no ‘Heroes’ where life-size world-changing MIGHTY AND COSMIC POWERS come into play, predictably. Which is a nice change frankly. Whether the film will show the iffy angle is not yet clear, but anything that doesn’t amplify the psi idea into cartoon level will be novel.

The film “Push” stars Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Bell and Djimon Hounsou. All of their characters have different psychic abilities, but “they’re not so great.” Director Paul McGuigan said about it:

“They’re kind of crap powers and that’s important because the film is a character piece as well as an action piece. “As they get emotionally involved their powers suddenly come to the front, but they’re still not that great. It’s not like they’re flying through the air or picking up cars and throwing them… I tried to keep it very much as gritty as I possibly could.”

Can they change the future? Here’s the movie website with trailer.

Nick (Evans) is called a “mover” because he has the power to move things, but he’s not so good at perfecting his talents.

Cassie (Fanning) is a “watcher.” She can see into the future, but only snapshots and she draws what she sees.

“Bleeders” can make a high pitched noise which makes people bleed and it disables them and “sniffers” can pick up an object and see who has been in contact with the object. They can essentially track you down with their heightened sense of smell.

“Pushers” can affect your memory of an event that has happened or even an event that never took place. Alyssa (Bell) and Agent Carver (Hounsou) both have this ability; however they use it for very different reasons.

Carver runs The Division and injections of a drug are given to the ones with powers with the hope of enhancing their abilities so the government can then use their powers for whatever they want. However, no one has survived the experiment except for one girl named Alyssa English (Bell), but she escaped from confinement and took something with her that could potentially bring down the organization.

I tend to like any movie or show that focuses on psi, even when it’s completely stupid and unrealistic, just because I’m so interested in the idea itself. But I think a show that focuses on a few people with “crappy powers” is kind of hilarious in a way, and sounds more intriguingly realistic to me than most movies on the subject.

One of the themes in the movies is that the government is forcing them to take a drug they think will amplify the powers of those who survive it, but so far nobody but one has ever survived it. Not surprisingly, then, the others are ‘running for their lives’.  This parallels the reality of the USSR during the Cold War, which is now known to have done this sort of thing in their own attempts to explore psi including ‘remote viewing’.

The film is set to be released in February 2009.

PJ