PontifiKate

Jumper

I saw Jumper this weekend. Twice. The redundancy was not because I love-loved it, but just because that's just how it happened. That said, I had the opportunity to both have an initial opinion and then to refine it.

It is a fun superpower flick, although the character is too openly selfish to be considered a superhero. I didn’t recognize Hayden Christensen in the leading role, but actually had to be informed by my sister that it was him. This is a good thing, since I was not wowed by his work as Anakin back in the day. Though his character is less than likable, it was well-presented and pretty believable given his circumstances. I feel like the director got in Hayden's face and told him, "You are a selfish, conceited 23-year-old. Sell it." Sold.

The film really was very well executed (PG-13). It looks pretty and the action flows really well. In fact, I'm going to go so far as to say that I really liked the action. There's no blood to speak of -- not that that sort of thing usually bothers me much, but I find it preferable to get good action without blood if given a choice. The action itself is fun and relies on the watcher to be intelligent since we ARE talking about teleportation, after all. Not to mention all the fun that comes from the teleportation. Talk about a grand scale! The writers also are to be commended for not using dialog as a crutch to quantify the rules of teleportation in their universe. Very clear. Very naturally communicated, by and large.

The script had some minor flaws. The biggest flaw in my estimation was that the film feels like a prequel to the movie-yet-to-come where the main character actually decides to act like a superhero, developing selfless and noble characteristics, etc. I have not heard any murmurings about a sequel (nor have I looked), but the assumption of one makes the movie work way better for me. It felt very much like the back-story for Peter Parker or, to a lesser extent, like Batman Begins, but then they deprive you of the redemption portion of the story! Yes, I believe the characters are poised to be interesting with significance-packed relationships, and that the main character would have one heck of a compelling emotional journey in Movie Two, so THEY'D BETTER MAKE IT! Lots of promise... but not an excellent movie on its own.

posted by Kate @ 4:51 PM