Jumper - a review of sorts...

We searched the local theaters for something to see on our date nights. There really wasn't much else going on around town. I guess I should have checked live theater, but I would have been late in getting tickets.

So we settled on "Jumper". It had an interesting premise. A guy who can teleport from one place to another. Hence the name, Jumper. David thinks he's the only one of his kind after he discovers that he can "jump" in high school when he almost drowns. He moves away from a suspected abusive father, when he's still 15 and not out of high school. He moves to the big city and discovers that he needs money. So David decides to jump into a bank vault.

But first he must see the vault. That's the interesting thing about jumping. You see, the Jumper has to see the area before you can jump there. So how does he get there?? He asks for a restroom for customers. So they walk him down the stairs and right by the vault. What kind of a bank put the restrooms downstairs?? Most customers aren't even going to be heading into the vault.

He jumps into the vault that night and leaves an IOU (or several) and takes bags and bags of money then jumps back to his hotel room. He keeps jumping back and forth. I noticed that when David's emotions were high, he did damage when he jumped into a room. When his emotions were neutral, there was no damage. Just an interesting plot point that I thought added to the movie.

Then time flashes forward and we see David as a 25 year old. He's got a VERY nice apartment. It's filled with all sorts of STUFF. Many pictures line the walls (we learn later these are jump points). The stuff in his apartment is just stuff. It doesn't seem to have a need. With the exception that maybe he takes it with him. There's a yellow scooter sitting in his apartment and I'm still not sure what that was about. He's living the high life and then trouble comes.

Jumpers have enemies. The Jumpers mortal enemies are a group that call themselves Paladins. Samuel L. Jackson is the lead bad guy we see in the movie. They are portrayed as religious fanatics (which I didn't much care for, but it didn't take away from the movie) Actually, the movie had a bit of a "Highlander" vibe, without all the beheading. A Jumper can be stopped by high-voltages of electricity. We see a Jumper in the jungles, tangled in cords that are coursing with electricity. He asks why all this was happening and Jackson's character says something about only God having the power to be all places.

Which begs to differ the semantics - Jumpers aren't in MORE than one place, they just get there faster than the rest of us. Religious fanatics don't make sense sometimes.

We meet another Jumper when David takes a girl to Rome. This Jumper is cynical and we discover that he's been hunting Paladins and knows quite a lot about them and their organization. They team up to fight Jackson's Paladin and save David's girl friend.

The movie was over far too soon. It moved very fast which surprised me. They could have done a bit more with character development...but all in all it kept me entertained. I came away thinking that it would make a fantastic TV Show and maybe I had just watched the pilot episode.

Hayden Christensen did a great job as David. He started out as a sensitive boy and remained so through the movie. I liked that and never once did I have Anakin flash backs from the Star Wars movies. The one thing I didn't like about the movie was David's immaturity. He started the movie as a 15 year old boy and when we see him later, he was still very immature. Granted, maybe he didn't have to mature because he didn't have to grow through things like jobs and college - he just jumped through life instead.

Which sort of explained the gratuitous s*x implied in the movie - he never grew up. It didn't really need to be in the movie, but it helped set the tone for David's life. Essentially, everything he had and done was all meaningless.

The movie ended with a great opening for a sequel...but really, I'm not sure it would make another movie....but it would make a fantastic tv show. Maybe someone from TV land will see my blog, steal my idea and I'll have a tv show to watch. :-)

Unlike David, I can't jump through life. While I was typing and thinking - Mini-E decided to lather vaseline all over herself. So forgive my typos and any lack of continuity in my thoughts -- I've got to go make a bubble bath instead of editing.