JUMPER - a recent science fiction film that I watched on Robinson's mall theater.
- directed by Doug Liman, starred Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell and Samuel L. Jackson
- its trailer I saw after I've already watched the movie
- interesting plot
- expensive sci-fi movie
- many great places shown in the movie
- nice graphics
- received mostly negative reviews
When I saw this movie as a next attraction on movie theaters, I was so eager to watch it. I was curious and excited on the character's adventures. With its tag line, "Anywhere is possible," it has drawn people to the theaters. But critics gave backward reviews about the film.
According to James Hannaham, "Jumper tells us that Americans fantasize about getting rich by stealing and going everywhere they want without restrictions; that they are materialistic, disrespect foreign antiquities, and remain blind to their own and to world history." Yes, I totally agree with his statement. I haven't learned any values from the movie. Each one of us has somehow dreamed to be a jumper, the movies gave us the idea that if we can go anywhere we want, we can have and be whatever we want. Samuel Jackson's character was supposed to be "the good" character for me, except that they brutally kill jumpers. Since jumpers steal and destroy, they must be eliminated and as what Jackson always say, "only God can have those powers." But in the end, the jumpers still won the battle and managed to dump Jackson some place he can't even picture out where.
"It doesn't help that the performances are bland (particularly those of Christensen and Bilson) and that what comes out of their mouths is uninspired," said Claudia Puig from USA Today. I've also noticed that Christensen showed little emotions. He was not really that surprised or frightened when he teleported the first time. I never felt for the characters, I wasn't overwhelmed, I wasn't touched. Another critic from The Hollywood Reporter said that all the state-of-the-art visual effects in the world can't compensate for spotty plotting and bland characters that prevent an intriguing premise from going the distance. Wesley Morris commented, "But what can you do with Hayden Christensen? He's as close as we have to an android actor. It's all a chore for him. He never looks sufficiently scared, impressed, or surprised by any of this."
There are so many questions that haven't been answered on the film, like why do they have the ability to teleport around the world? Why is there a war between jumpers and paladins? What will now happen to Roland and to all other paladins? If they're planning to answer these questions on part 2 of Jumper, they better look into all the criticisms the movie got and make a better sci-fi movie next time.
Anyway, I still enjoyed the movie though. I still somehow dreamed to jump from Iloilo to Bahamas haha :)
