Jumper – Now, I Wish I Could Do That

I am not going to deprive you the pleasure in discovering what “jumpers” are or where they come from – though I doubt if you can find all the answers from watching the film alone.  It is rare to find a film that despite having so many flaws, it is still very entertaining to the core.  Thanks to all the marketing effort, who wouldn’t be enticed by the film trailer or even that scene on TV whereby Hayden Christensen (as the main character David) took Ryan Seacrest to the Sphinx in Egypt, and then “jumped” back to the show, where Seacrest introduced the American Idol Hollywood week episode?  Besides, the director has my favorite movies “The Bourne Identity” (2002) and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)” under his belt.  TK was shocked to realize that I didn’t even do my thorough ‘homework’ before booking the tickets like I normally do.  Hey, I can be quite spontaneous too, you know! Ha ha ha … While Cynthia and I have super high expectation on “Jumper”, TK didn’t expect much from the show – which in the end the film exceeded his expectation and met ours.

The truth is, I adore the OC girl Rachel Bilson from that teen TV series with a capital A.  Never mind if she can act (as Cynthia constantly pokes fun at me). In fact, I don’t think our Anakin Skywalker Hayden Christensen can act either (as I constantly poke fun at her).  And this pair of main characters were selected to replace the original casting as the producer needed more star factor for the film.  Not only that, the screenplay was rewritten as well.  Despite all that has done to save the film, I think the biggest flaw lies in the original science fiction novel by Steven Gould.  I often think that great novel makes great movie and it is hard to make a good movie out of a bad novel.  The differences between the novel and the film, as I have later researched, can be quite interesting.  By and large, the film adaptation has made the story more entertaining except one single flaw: the ancient background history of Brian Cox (played by Samuel L. Jackson) who pursues the “jumpers” that forms the core of the film is just silly.  It opens up too many questions that cannot be answered.

Acting and stupid storyline aside, the special visual and sound effects make the rather short film (90 mins) entertaining to watch.  Even after the movie, Cynthia and I were fantasizing being able to just jump through space and skip all the walking or having our car to zoom through the traffic conditions.  The scenery shots are great.  In fact, some people whom I talked to (like the dude who washed my hair this morning at the salon after realizing that I was researching the movie with my wi-fi phone, he said to me, “Great movie!  I love seeing so many places!”) see that as a big plus.  I personally love the scenes shot in the real Colosseum that supposed to be a rare access for filming.

My favorite quote from the film is “only God should have the power to be in all places at all times – Samuel L. Jackson”.  My favorite actress?  Gosh, I adore Rachel Bilson .  Have I mentioned that already?