Kathy and I saw Jumper yesterday.
Before I comment on this movie, I do want to note that I’ve actually read the 2 books that this movie was based on.
You can check out my comments on Jumper and Reflex if you’d like. The books premise is that a teen is abused by his father and a loaner. During one of the abusive incidents, he discovers he can “jump” or teleport. He then decides to runaway and discovers the extent of his ability. In the first book, he sets up a hide away that no one can get to. It’s in the southwest somewhere in the face of a cliff, in a cave that someone would have to rock climb to get to. He set’s it up pretty luxuriously. He also finds a girl friend, Millie and reveals to her his abilities. During the book he tries to find other jumpers but never does. He does get hunted a bit by the government. The second book is different and he actually get’s captured and is more the story of Millie who discovers that she can jump too (perhaps because she has been jumping with him so much). She eventually finds Davy and helps him escape.
The movie is quite interesting in how it interpreted the books concepts. Instead of the one jumper, jumpers have existed throughout time and there is actually an organization that is hunting them down and destroying them (Paladin’s). The lead character finds another jumper that in many ways is the other side of his character (at least from the book) though they clearly don’t get a long.
Overall, I think the changes to the book are good for the movie version. I didn’t like the mother part of the story as I didn’t really think they dealt with it right or believable. Also, they made me like the 2nd jumper enough that I really wanted him to be part of the finale so I was disappointed that he wasn’t. My last criticism is the selection of the lead in Hayden Christensen. I guess I knew this from the Star Wars movies (probably because of the eye candy) but man is he a dry actor – very dead. It’s really hard to buy anything he’s playing with the way he talks. The other actors were great but he just lost it for me.
Overall, it was still a fun movie though I think the trailer made it seem like it was going to be more non-stop than it was. It had moments but it had lulls too. Fun but don’t expect a movie that is paced like a Bourne movie.