Thursday, February 28, 2008

Jumper

Imagine if the director from The Bourne Identity decided to do an action/sci-fi movie about teleporters. You'd probably think it was not only going to be entertaining, but probably pretty decent too.

You'd be wrong.

Jumper was entertaining - actually, quite entertaining, but had so many plot holes and bizarre lines and ideas that it pretty much just completely fell apart. Also, when they use actors that have been completely typecast for me that doesn't help either. I couldn't get away from the impression that I was watching Anakin Skywalker run around the globe with Summer Roberts, all the while running away from Shaft.

They also decided to throw in a weird subplot involving Diane Lane, which didn't really make an awful lot of sense.

Actually, the movie didn't make an awful lot of sense period, but at least it had some cool visuals, a bit of decent action, and some humorous lines. The best character was easily Jamie Bell's character, a "more-experienced" 'jumper' who helps out Anakin along the way.

The weirdest part of the whole movie was that by the end of the movie it was fairly difficult to like Anakin. He just wasn't that likable of a character. For example, in most superhero movies, when a TV broadcast says "There are still people trapped by the flood and nobody will be able to get to them in time", that's generally the part where Superman/Spiderman/X-men/etc. will fly/swing/claw/etc. into action to rescue the people. Here? Anakin ignores the TV, goes gets some of his money, and teleports to Britain for the day.

Just a strange movie. Entertaining and fun, yes. But what I'll really remember it for was the lost potential.

2 comments:

Jamie A. Grant said...

Yeah, I saw this movie last week with my Little. I heard bad reviews and yes, they were correct. The special effects were excellent, Jamie Bell was indeed the best character, the villains were terrible and the subplots sucked.

I particularly disliked the motivation that Sam Jackson had for his role. However, my Little pointed out that these were the same guys doing the Inquisitions and Witch Hunts of eons past, so in that context it's idiotic but still makes perfect sense.

I can't say that I saw much potential in this movie, though. Was always going to be a 'B' movie no matter what. ;)

Jamie A. Grant said...

You have 6 posts in February, beating my 5. At least I have more in March, but kudos to you for posting one-sentence blogs... ;)