Jumper

Jumper

Jumper.

Well, it doesn’t suck.

I mean, it’s got Samuel L. Jackson in it.  It can’t suck.  And Rachel Bilson is so damned cute.

It’s a little thin on plot and it never really says too much about why any of this is going on.  But it looks great.  The special effects are off the chain. 

And how cool would that be to just be able to teleport you and anything you are touching anywhere you wanted?  Including the inside of a bank vault.

I’m giving it a two and half bank bags out of five.  And I might pick it up out of the five dollar bin because chicks think Hayden Christensen is hot and don’t mind watching Rachel Bilson.

Cal Reed

Jumper

(As usual, no spoilers)

Great special effects and an even better premise. Matter of fact, the movie started off great. Notice I said, "started off" great.

I know this movie is based on a book and I'd like very much to know more about said book or talk to someone who's read it (no reading time on my end). My husband told me that the Paladins don't appear in the book, which is the major plot point of the movie (Wikipedia confirms that). Though, if you take out the whole Paladin part, the movie wouldn't have had some many problems.


Let's list them off, shall we:

- They never give a definite concrete reason WHY the Paladins are hunting jumpers. In fact, I can't see the viewer sympathizing with the Paladins in any way shape or form. I know I didn't. They just looked like cold-blooded killers to me. Yes, they are the antagonist. But with "do-gooder" groups that take their cause to the extreme to get it done (thus making them the antagonist), you're usually supposed to see their point of view somewhat. Nothing doing with these guys. All they said was the Paladins believe jumpers are evil -- or will become evil -- but don't back up the claim with hard facts or past anecdotes.

- They give no explanation for the jumpers other than they were born that way. Toxic waste, too much television, nuclear fallout... nothing. They just exist.

- Actually, now that I think about it, besides the main character's discovery of his powers, the movie explains NOTHING. Not a damn thing. They leave a lot of stuff unanswered and then drop the movie off on an obvious opening for a sequel. I'd like to say that was wishful thinking on their part, but the numbers don't lie and Jumper is doing really well.

- I'm still trying to figure out how the Paladins functioned back in the middle ages before all their fancy modern tech. But that's not a fault with the movie, just me wondering.

Will I go see the sequel, if there is one? In movie theaters -- no way in hell. I saw the first one for free (sneak preview) and that's the only way I'll see the second one in theaters. In my opinion, it's not worth the cost of the ticket and the aggravation of seeing it on the big screen. This is a Friday/Saturday night rental at best.

I must say I'm a little annoyed at this new trend in movies of leaving stuff for the sequel. No one ends movies anymore. And what happens to the poor viewer if the movie goes all Matrix on us and the sequel doesn't come out for another five years. Or worse yet, the script gets scrapped and the budgeting is cut, meaning the movie won't be made at all.

What then? Read the book? Nope. I already said the movie skewed way off the book's original course.

I think they could have tied up the movie (not just the ending) much better than they did and still leave it open for a sequel. Instead, they took the lazy man's out and decided to leave the viewer with questions that won't get answers until sometime in 2009, if even then.

The one up shot of the movie: Hayden Christensen lost that creepy date rapist vibe (that's what my husband said he looked like and I agree) he picked up in Star Wars Eps 2 and 3 movies. I know, I know. He was supposed to be dark and moody but he just came off as one of those guys with the funny tasting drinks your mother always warned you about.

If you think my critique was harsh, check out these guys atRotten Tomatoes. Can we saw Razzies, anyone?

(Read Less...)

Recommendations: Star Trek (2009), Avatar, 300

D. Renee Bagby<br />
Building New Realms of Passion<br />
http://dreneebagby.com

JUMPER (2008)

BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: From the director of The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith comes the evolution of extreme – a high-powered shot of adrenaline that stretches the very limits of imagination. Next stop: Anywhere! David Rice is a young man who knows no boundaries – a Jumper, born with the uncanny ability to teleport instantly to any place on Earth. When he discovers others like himself, David is thrust into the midst of an ancient war while being hunted by a bloodthirsty band of zealots sworn to destroy all Jumpers. Now, David’s extraordinary gift may be his only hope for survival!

FILM REVIEW: “Jumper” is an absolute mess of a film. Leave it to Hollywood to turn an incredibly cool concept whose very nature will hook you in to watching it in to a badly plotted, poorly executed and horrendously acted travesty that will leave you demanding your money back. Ironically, the film is directed by none other than indie maestro Doug Liman who has a great track record for delivering more unique Hollywood films that deliver the goods. Perhaps he needed to make one lemon in his career. There are so many things wrong with this film but at the end of the day the fault lies squarely on Liman’s shoulders. How he could make such a bad film from a great concept such as personal teleportation is beyond belief but the proof is in the film’s pudding.
Based on a successful graphic novel from the early nineties, “Jumper” is at best loosely based on this source material about the hard-done-by teenage boy David Rice who discovers in a life threatening situation that he has the ability to teleport himself from one place to another. Soon enough, he learns to control this talent and discovers he can transport himself anywhere on Earth. David runs away from his broken home and eventually steals a million dollars from a bank undetected, starting a new life in the process. These opening sequences featuring Max Thieriot as David and AnnaSophia Robb as David’s love interest Millie are the best in the film largely thanks to a slower pace and better acting by the young cast members as we see their relationship develop.
Flash forward ten years and David, now played by the still wooden and uncharismatic Hayden Christensen, is now living the high life in a New York penthouse with everything at his fingertips. Almost immediately, the film heads downwards largely thanks to Christensen’s inability to generate any sympathy for his character. When his life is in jeopardy by the arrival of Roland (a very bored looking Samuel L. Jackson), the film becomes an erratic editorial mess as David discovers he is now involved in a war between jumpers like himself and a band of zealots lead by Roland dedicated to destroying them. Nothing wrong with the concept itself, but the execution gives no room for development, no access in to the journey the characters are taking, but does manage to give schizophrenic tone and pace shifts that will drive you nuts. The further the film goes, the more you get lost visually as they jump to recogniseable places all over the world while having fight scenes at the same time but giving you no sense of the danger involved or what is at stake (if there is anything!). I’m sure this was a cool concept on paper but the resulting execution is poor and messy. The film is also not helped by poor logic gaps and badly thought out sequences; for example, David saves his father by teleporting him in the middle of a crowded hospital area. However, no one bothers to question how David suddenly appeared before them, or that he has damaged the floor and surrounding equipment due to his teleportation. No, they just see his ill father and immediately rush to help him without any questions, allowing David to disappear in to the night yet again.
Hayden Christensen, unfortunately for him, is not an actor and this film, if the Star Wars prequels did not do so, proves it. He does have good looks, but he is saddled with playing a potentially complex, emotionally immature character with no sense of responsibility and it is annoying to watch this through Christensen’s clumsy fumbling of dialogue and facial expressions. Stumbling over words and having funny looks with no apparent acting skills looks more like amateur-time rather than a serious attempt to portray such a character and as such he looks more like a wooden mannequin than a person. As a result, you have a hard time buying why a character like Millie, despite her connection to the character set up in the opening scenes, would ever want to follow such a dangerous and uncharismatic misfit of a boy despite how good he looks.
Samuel L. Jackson looks like he is going through the motions as Roland. He looks bored and does not seem to be all that interested in what is going on which is a shame because his bad guy presence does carry some weight. Jamie Bell as Griffin is perhaps the only highlight in the cast as the connection David finds to the world of the jumpers. Bell manages to induce a sense of fun while laying on the exposition. Another surprise is a cameo by Diane Lane as David’s mother. She certainly holds the screen, particularly against Christensen, but one has to wonder what possessed her to take on such a small role in a film that was so badly done. Liman’s reputation perhaps? I doubt it will work on his next film.
Watching the documentaries on this DVD, understanding the nature of the production speaks volumes to the mess this film is. It would appear that Liman was changing things on a daily basis and as such there is little wonder the film does not cohere. “Jumper” is an unfortunate waste of time and money; cool concept, exceptional bad delivery.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: Both the visual and audio transfers of the film for this DVD are spectacular. The images are very clean, crisp and colourful, delivering the feast for the visual senses that the film offers. The audio makes full use of the surrounds, and the “jump” effect used whenever one of the characters teleports is quite good. Overall, “Jumper” has received an excellent transfer.

EXTRAS REVIEW: An unexpected bonus of this DVD is that the extras package is actually very good. Although the film is quite bad, the documentary features present on this disc which equate to around two hours of behind the scenes material make the DVD almost worth buying. The audio commentary by director Doug Liman and producers Lucas Foster and Simon Kinberg is interesting in that the details and motivations they impart throughout the scenes seem to explain why the film is the way it is but also raises the contradiction between how much thought and effort went in to the film yet so little of it is apparent in the final product. There are also a series of documentary featurettes focusing on various aspects of the filmmaking process including locations, cast, special effects, deleted scenes, pre-visualisation, and a curious look at the original graphic novel. However, the jewel in the crown is the forty minute documentary “Doug Liman’s Jumper: Exposed” which provides about as close as possible a document to the filmmaking process as you can get. Some of the interviews give the impression of trying to sugar-coat Liman’s nutcase and erratic directorial behaviour, but the footage does offer a lot of very candid moments that you would not otherwise see in material like this; images in particular of Liman running around with the steadicam in the Colosseum while ignoring his 1st AD yelling out in the megaphone asking him what he wants to do next are priceless and go to show why the film is perhaps the mess that it is. In one of the featurettes we see Jamie Bell lose it as his frustration with the way the film is being made bubbles to the surface. Watching Samuel L. Jackson and Hayden Christensen trying to give a positive spin on working with Liman is also amusing as it looks like they are struggling to come up with a good answer. This is an excellent collection of extras; it’s just a shame that the film is so bad and average given how much effort appears to have gone in to the making of it.

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it.

FILM RATING: 2/10 -- EXTRAS RATING: 8/10 -- OVERALL DVD RATING: 5/10 

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

JUMPER (2008)

BOTTOM LINE: An intriguing concept and a cool bad guy turn from Samuel L. Jackson can't save this woeful excuse of a sci-fi film.

THE GOOD: 'Jumper' has a very cool concept: there are people on the Earth who are born with the ability to teleport themselves to anywhere they please. They are hunted by another group of people who wish to exterminate them out of fear that they will ultimately do bad things. It's a great idea for a sci-fi action film and in many sequences throughout the film you get to see Mr Anti-Charisma himself, Hayden Christensen, jump all over the place in a matter of seconds, particularly when you see so many places and locales from around the world on show in the film. Makes you wonder what it would be like to have this power. He's being hunted by Samuel L. Jackson who creates a decent bad guy in Roland, the head of a secret organisation that is dedicated to wiping out the jumpers. This really could have been a wonderful, intelligent sci-fi/action/chase film.

THE BAD: Okay, where to start. Oh, I know, Hayden Christensen. If people learnt one thing from the Star Wars prequel trilogy it would be not to make Hayden Christensen the star of your film. Sorry kid, but you just can't act. He's just as wooden here as he was in the Star Wars prequels, although he does look a touch cooler in this film. This is bad enough but he's not entirely to blame for the mess that this film represents. Doug Liman who gave us the excellent 'The Bourne Identity' and the so-so action adventure 'Mr and Mrs Smith' must have left his judgment at the door. Although there are various directorial touches which give you the same sense of style that his previous films gave, where 'Jumper' falls down is in its rushed script which skimps over so many plot points as to not give them much depth or meaning, and to inhabit the film with characters which you really couldn't care less about. Not even the best actor in the world could save Christensen's character on paper - he's spoilt by his power making him quite the brat, and I found myself actually wanting to see Sam Jackson kick his ass in to the next millenium; not a feeling you want to feel for your main protagonist. There's no sense of sympathy for that character and without sympathy for the lead (even if he's not a nice guy), you don't really have a hook for the audience. Character motivations are mad, particularly with the character of his girlfriend Millie who by all rights should be wanting to get away from Christensen - while the film goes in this direction, especially after she sees what he's capable of and the way he abuses his power, by the end of it all she has a change of heart and she excitedly goes off with him on adventures! Then of course there's all the scenes where the jumpers teleport in to and out of crowded public areas and no one (except for one scene) seems to be shocked. One ridiculous example is when Christensen teleports his father in to a hospital for treatment. No one ever seems to question how they ended up there in the first place, especially as the teleport occurs in full view of many people and actually damages the immediate surrounding rooms. All up, the film is just too fast for its own good and ridiculous, 'jumping' through plot points rather than taking the time to dramatically explore them and by the time you've had you're fill of Mr Anti-Charisma and the way his antics are ridiculously played out, you'll walk out of the theatre believing you've just wasted your time.

RATING: 3/10

(Read Less...)

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

Jumper

The Gist



What Do I Think?

Hayden Christensen is in a great film title to shed his Anakin Skywalker image. His performance is slightly above average to showcase his acting skills and onscreen presence. Let’s hope he gets more blockbusters like this in the near future.


The movie premise generally attracts viewers because I’m sure everyone somehow at one point of time would love to ‘jump’ to a place of desire. I know I would. Director Doug Liman, whose earlier works like Bourne Identity and Mr & Mrs Smith impressed me much, did very well here to explore the unthinkable possibilities of the consequences of a being a ‘jumper’. Similar to Adam Sandler’s Click, the whole fantasy of ‘jumping’ doesn’t take up the entire screen time, only less than 10%.


What I like about Jumper is that it’s like a middle-episode movie. Since it didn’t explain how a ‘jumper’ becomes one, there could be a prequel or a TV spin-off. And I’m pretty sure that there will be at least one sequel.

Rating: 7/10