Jumper

Year of release : 2008

Run time : 1h29min

Genre : Sci Fi / Action

Cast : Hayden Christensen, Samuel L.Jackson, Rachel Bilson, Max Thieriot, Jamie Bell, AnnaSophia Robb, Michael Rooker, Diane Lane

The movie is based on the 1992 novel of the same name,by Steven Gould.

David finds out he can jump through time,from one place to another,when a kid in school throws the souvenir he gave the girl he liked onto a frozen lake,and falls into the frozen water. Just then, instead of dying, he teleports into the library.

That's all he needs to leave home,as his father was abusive. And his mother left when he was 5.

David puts his skill to work,by robbing banks in order to have money and live a lavish life.

His dream life is shook by Roland Cox, 8 years later, who is after him, as he is the man who catches jumpers. After living a life of excess,in which he has one night stands,he remembers his school crush,and decides to go see her, only because Roland is hot on his tracks.

 

I personally didn't like the movie,as the characters are not fleshed out . Everything happens very fast,it goes from, in David's case, one night stands,to Millie being the love of his life. Forgive me for not believing you!

 

The lead comes across as unlikeable from the beginning,when he's calling the audience a 'chum' ( google says chum means 'friend,pal' but I doubt this was the meaning of it).

He keeps on saying he's not like the others (jumpers,as if he knows any of them! and all of them are bad!) but we've only seen him and he seems pretty bad,considering he robs banks for a living!

 

I really didn't like the lead, he seemed selfish and self centered.

He is shown having s3x with a random woman he meets in a bar in London (that was probably supposed to be cool,and I didn't get it ), and in the next scene he goes to Millie and tells her it's only been her! And just like that, on the same day, they embark on a trip to Italy (this girl didn't have a life -although she worked at a bar-and apparently boyfriend),for she always wanted to go. And I'm supposed to be impressed by how romantic he is! Give me a break!

I personally was on Roland's side, I hated how he had to be a religious freak,just so it would make the awful lead better!

 

The visual effects were good. They reminded me of the ones in Spider Man,when they are jumping from place to place,which was awesome.

The acting was fine, except for Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson. Hayden always acts like he's bored or something.

Kristen Stewart makes an appearance towards the end of the movie.

The movie received negative reviews from critics due to the characters having no growth and the movie no plot or a rushed plot, and an anticlimactic ending, and for being changed a lot from the novel although the writer approved the changes.

The audiences gave it a B on an A+ to F scale.

It grossed 225 million dollars against a budget of 85 million.

Tom Sturridge and Teresa Palmer were supposed to play the leads, but were replaced by the producer and director who agreed the characters needed to be older for the audiences to relate to them (eye roll).

Jumper is for rent / sale on Amazon, AppleTv, Fandango at Home.

Rating : Could have been a contender !