20th Century Fox Production
www.jumpermovie.co.uk
I don’t hate Jumper, I just hate that these films follow such a close structure that it’s hard not to be negative. Jumper is pretty much as predictable as you’d imagine, it’s not terrible, but it’s what you’d expect. Director Doug Liman takes control with this sci-fi tale; he’s clearly a man who fears change, as this little flick isn’t much off Mr & Mrs Smith or The Bourne Identity.
Jumper (basically teleporting) is about an underground war that has been going on since the dawn of time, between teleporters and those out to harvest their bones, the Paladins. The “Jumper” whom we are following is David Rice, (Riceboy to those who clearly have a crazy imagination). David discovers his ability just before he’s about to drown under a frozen lake, in an attempt to save a gift for his school sweetheart. After discovering his power, he decides to use it to escape the small town life, ditching his father and attempts to seek out the mother who walked out on him as a kid.
Time passes; he gets cocky and starts to lose track of how much power he has, until he draws the attention of another Jumper (Griffin). Griffin explains to him about the Paladins and their ability, throw in some clichéd banter and David’s Achilles heel, (his childhood sweetheart Millie) a handful of Paladins and obvious twist, and you’ve got the general film.
The advantage of being a Jumper allowed for the film to trek pretty much all over the globe, making for some stunning backdrops, which made appealing cinematic viewing, however that’s as far as it went.
The special effects for the actual Jumping weren’t terrible either. They were well developed giving the idea of a nauseous, confusing punch with every jump, which made the fight scenes play out quite nicely. It just seemed like Liman was using that as space filler because clearly dialogue and character development wasn’t top of the list.
The film isn’t terrible, as I said before, it’s just very predictable, so if you like that kind of sci-fi-cum-action-cum-chase film, I’m sure you’ll have a ball. Special powers are always super cool, and Jumping seems like a fairly awesome power to posses, if only eh?
Emily Paget
Watch the trailer here: