I really really wanted to see this movie - the whole idea of teleporting is something I’ve fancied for a long time (’Beam me up Scotty’ long!).
The whole teleporting thing is dealt with really well. I loved the way the special effects were done, barring the drive through Japan in the Mercedes (talk about product endorsements), all the other scenes seemed simple and realistic enough. It was nice because a lot of films tend to overdo the special effects, especially sci-fi films whose very premise demands it.
The story however could have been more developed. It’s basically about a boy (Hayden Christensen) who discovers he has the power to teleport himself. A lot of the movie then revolves around him honing his teleporting skills and taking us for a tour around the world. For a travel buff like me, it was fun anyway, but perhaps some of it could have been replaced with some proper storyline on his relationship with his mother (Diane Lane, who has the most ridiculous & disjointed role ever, appearing & disappearing for 2 mins) or his father or even his girlfriend (Rachel Bilson, the OC’s Summer) - yes, it would have been nice to have the dynamic between them explored just a tad bit more.
Jamie Bell plays another ‘jumper’ (that’s what them teleporters are called apparently) in the movie and one finds oneself thinking - ah now, the story’s finally begun. But then an all too short time after, and rather disjointedly, it ends.
All that said, I still recommend you go see this movie. Despite the failings in the plot, it’s a superbly made movie & the whole teleporting thing was enough for me to enjoy it.
In between someone asked, if you could teleport yourself somewhere right now, where would you go? And I thought, no where, I want to finish seeing this movie. That should be testament enough.
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PS: If you’re gonna catch this in a theater (& I recommend you do that for this and for any special effects movie) be warned that you might be subjected to rather brilliant people, the likes who can identify the Sphinx when they see it. Seriously, I am not worthy of sitting alongside such genius.
Tags: Diane Lane, Hayden Christensen, Jumper, Rachel Bilson, Teleporters, Teleporting, The OC
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February 26th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Edit: Spoiler Alert!!
Well, the role of his mother, Mary Rice (Diane Lane) is fine because she is a “Paladin” (those people dedicated to the eradication of all Jumpers). She do not want to kill her own son and thus left him at 5 when she realized her son is a Jumper. I think her role is thus fair enough. The girlfriend is an eyecandy and is fine for most movies where they’re treated as such.
Ah Yes, unless you seriously love teleporting thingy and want to see yet another Special Effect done not-so-green, Jumper is fine else skip it and wait for it on TV. Nonetheless, it is also known that due to lack of any other good movies at the moment, it tops the US chart.
February 27th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I lol’ed at the PS line. Hahaha. Will watch the movie, thanks for the thumbs up.
I’m still laughin..
February 27th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I was disappointed with the storyline and execution. Plead guilty too of recognising certain scenes with the sphinx and the colosseum as unreal or computer generated. When you have been there and seen it you feel cheated when you notice they have missed out certain elements when replicating these on the sets…
March 1st, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Re: someone asked… I was certain you would reply with Australia.
The movie got rather poor reviews else would have caught it in the US when it released last month. I went ahead and saw I am Legend on IMAX instead…
March 7th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
@ Kg:
Glad you liked, trust me they were SO annoying.
@ Anumita: Yes it wasn’t half as good as it could have been. But I think as movies go, it wasn’t a complete disappointment. I liked the effects.
@ Shantanu: lol. Though Oz was great, been there, done that. If I was to teleport, would go visit other places I haven’t been to (& there are tons of those!)
And deyamm. I missed I am Legend.