Better then I expected
Added 11/2/2009
I rented and watched this movie off of Netflix recently, when I have asked people I know if they liked it most people either hadn't seen it or said it was just okay so I wasn't expecting much out of this. However I did actually enjoy this movie. It gets going pretty fast and keeps this pace through out the whole movie and at 88 minutes long its just the right length as to not get stale. Hayden Christensen plays David Rice who has the ability to Jump, Jumping in this movie is an ability some have that allows them to teleport to anywhere they have been before instantly. After learning of this ability David runs away from home and his alcoholic father to New York, where he robs a bank. David is living a wonderful life and all seems well until Samuel L. Jackson's character Roland Cox who is a member of a secret organization that hunts down and kills Jumpers known as The Paladins catches up with him. The rest of the movie is a globe trotting action extravagnaza as David must protect his childhood sweet heart from this vicious hunter, and teams up with an unstable Jumper Griffin played by jamie Bell.
So all in all this movie was worth the rental, and I would encourage anyone who has not seen it to check it out. Christensen does a much better job in this movie than his boring performance in StarWars(although his evil scenes in StarWars were good), and the special effects, locations, and action sequences were pretty cool as well. I give this movie a 3 out of 5.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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To Join The Nerd Parade...
Added 10/5/2009
The writers got this all wrong. His mother should have been a Jumper, and his father a remorseful, loving Paladin.
Idiots.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Mindless entertainment, perfect Blu to show off your HDTV
Added 8/9/2009
I remember really looking forward to Jumper when the teaser and initial previews came out. Then, suddenly, the movie was there in front of me on Blu-Ray, and to say I was only a little disappointed would be an understatement.
Rather than the big action ride I anticipated, Jumper is instead a showcase for digital effects, camera work, and the power of HD. The movie focuses on people called "jumpers," who are able to teleport. The main character of the film, played by Anakin himself, does what most people would do if they found themselves given such great power: use it for his own gains.
Most people will claim if they could teleport they'd use it for good, but let's be honest: a majority of you would use it the same way David Rice does: teleporting to rob banks, but mostly just using it to travel the world instantaneously and fulfill his own cravings. Want Chinese from China? You got it. Want to surf in Fiji but also have a one-night stand in London? You got that, too.
Thankfully, the movie isn't just David Rice partaking in vices. Alongside the jumpers, there's a group known as the Paladins, which (if you've ever played any games or D&D) you can guess are religiously based. Led in the film by Samuel L Jackson, the Paladins make it their duty to extinguish the jumpers, believing only God should have the ability to be anywhere at once.
Throw in the cliché girlfriend childhood love interest, and the stranger who seems bad at first but obviously ends up "good," and you've got Jumper. It's an action film filled with great scenes and spectacular camerawork, but outside of SLJ there's little positive when it comes to performances (and even he seems to have phoned this one in), and even less positive when it comes to plot, development and a sense of closure at the end. There will obviously be a Jumper 2, so we'll have to see if they can do a better job with that one.
In terms of the Blu-Ray transfer, Jumper is one of the best discs yet in terms of visual quality. Coming in at 1080p with a 2.35:1 framed image, the film looks much, much better than the plot showcases. Colors are crisp, and several scenes look outright realistic. If you have an HDTV and don't mind the mindless action films from the 80s and earlier, give Jumper a try, if for no other reason to see how awesome films like Predator would have been with this quality of picture.
Everything else about Jumper is so-so. The audio is 5.1 but never too outstanding (or too poor), and the extras do the job but little above their requirement. Featured are obvious ones such as the making of the film (which I admit does do a better job than some), a look into the special effects process, and another look at adapting the novel into the film, which is my favorite piece. No matter what you take out of Jumper, it will likely make you interested in author Steven Gould's original book. Take solace in knowing the book is (like usual) much better than the film.
CONTENT: 2/5
Jumper is a popcorn flick, plain and simple. You won't talk about it after you watch it, and chances are you won't remember it two years from now. Watch it for some mindless entertainment, and expect nothing more. Sometimes, that's more than enough.
VIDEO: 5/5
One of the best Blu-Ray transfers I've seen. It stands up proud with Narnia and the other fantastic video achievements. Scenes look real, the effects are amazing, and the colors are perfect. If you want to show off Blu-Ray to friends or family, this is the disc to use.
AUDIO: 3/5
5.1 (which is the average these days), but nothing stands out. There's no real loud action, but nothing falters. The effects sound nice, and the music is decent, but, overall, Jumper's audio is completely middle of the road.
REPLAY: 1/5
If you watch movies with friends to go all MST3K style, this one has much higher replay. Alone, however, you'll watch it once then likely forget about it. Unless, of course, you want to marvel at the technical achievements on your HDTV.
EXTRAS: 3.5/5
The extras you'd expect from a big budget film. The most memorable is a look into the adaptation process, and that will hopefully lead more people to the book (and other books in the future!).
OVERALL: 3.5/5
As a movie itself, Jumper is probably only a 1.5 or a 2. With the Blu-Ray presentation, video, and others, however, it's a much better BRD than it is a movie. It's spectacular looking which makes the haphazard plot and shoddy acting bearable, and that's saying a lot for how nice the movie looks. If you have an HDTV, you may want to at least rent this just to see how nice it looks. Whether or not you buy, however, depends on your tolerance of mindless, poorly structured action movies. Basically, 80s action fans will dig it.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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How Did This Ever Get Produced?
Added 7/31/2009
Second only to Cloverfield in the list of movies I officially wish I had never wasted my time on. Hayden Christiansen may be this generation's Keanu Reeves. That is not a compliment.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Highlander meets Wanted
Added 7/26/2009
Jumper reminds me of a more hyper kinetic version of "Highlander" - at least in the storyline - where one individual who belongs to a special mutant race that has existed over time must now fight for lone survival in the modern world. Substitute the swords with the teleportation, and throw in a bit of the stylised action from "Wanted" and you have a nice wham-bam film. The trailer for Jumper made the film look more complicated than it really is. It's actually an easy film to watch.
Hayden Christensen (admittedly not one of my favourites after Star Wars) - is very convincing in what could be his best role. Samuel Jackson, as always - excels at whatever he's doing, and he's a bada** dude in this one.
The film succeeds in moving the action from scene to scene. Less successful and less convincing is the attempt to inform us about the Jumper's origins and their nemesis - the Paladins. Because the film is so contemporary and slick in its style, sometimes it's hard to buy into the theory of an "age-old past." The ending could have been a little more mysterious...but this is a fun film. 3.5 stars. Enjoy.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Better then I expected
Added 11/2/2009
I rented and watched this movie off of Netflix recently, when I have asked people I know if they liked it most people either hadn't seen it or said it was just okay so I wasn't expecting much out of this. However I did actually enjoy this movie. It gets going pretty fast and keeps this pace through out the whole movie and at 88 minutes long its just the right length as to not get stale. Hayden Christensen plays David Rice who has the ability to Jump, Jumping in this movie is an ability some have that allows them to teleport to anywhere they have been before instantly. After learning of this ability David runs away from home and his alcoholic father to New York, where he robs a bank. David is living a wonderful life and all seems well until Samuel L. Jackson's character Roland Cox who is a member of a secret organization that hunts down and kills Jumpers known as The Paladins catches up with him. The rest of the movie is a globe trotting action extravagnaza as David must protect his childhood sweet heart from this vicious hunter, and teams up with an unstable Jumper Griffin played by jamie Bell.
So all in all this movie was worth the rental, and I would encourage anyone who has not seen it to check it out. Christensen does a much better job in this movie than his boring performance in StarWars(although his evil scenes in StarWars were good), and the special effects, locations, and action sequences were pretty cool as well. I give this movie a 3 out of 5.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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To Join The Nerd Parade...
Added 10/5/2009
The writers got this all wrong. His mother should have been a Jumper, and his father a remorseful, loving Paladin.
Idiots.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
Mindless entertainment, perfect Blu to show off your HDTV
Added 8/9/2009
I remember really looking forward to Jumper when the teaser and initial previews came out. Then, suddenly, the movie was there in front of me on Blu-Ray, and to say I was only a little disappointed would be an understatement.
Rather than the big action ride I anticipated, Jumper is instead a showcase for digital effects, camera work, and the power of HD. The movie focuses on people called "jumpers," who are able to teleport. The main character of the film, played by Anakin himself, does what most people would do if they found themselves given such great power: use it for his own gains.
Most people will claim if they could teleport they'd use it for good, but let's be honest: a majority of you would use it the same way David Rice does: teleporting to rob banks, but mostly just using it to travel the world instantaneously and fulfill his own cravings. Want Chinese from China? You got it. Want to surf in Fiji but also have a one-night stand in London? You got that, too.
Thankfully, the movie isn't just David Rice partaking in vices. Alongside the jumpers, there's a group known as the Paladins, which (if you've ever played any games or D&D) you can guess are religiously based. Led in the film by Samuel L Jackson, the Paladins make it their duty to extinguish the jumpers, believing only God should have the ability to be anywhere at once.
Throw in the cliché girlfriend childhood love interest, and the stranger who seems bad at first but obviously ends up "good," and you've got Jumper. It's an action film filled with great scenes and spectacular camerawork, but outside of SLJ there's little positive when it comes to performances (and even he seems to have phoned this one in), and even less positive when it comes to plot, development and a sense of closure at the end. There will obviously be a Jumper 2, so we'll have to see if they can do a better job with that one.
In terms of the Blu-Ray transfer, Jumper is one of the best discs yet in terms of visual quality. Coming in at 1080p with a 2.35:1 framed image, the film looks much, much better than the plot showcases. Colors are crisp, and several scenes look outright realistic. If you have an HDTV and don't mind the mindless action films from the 80s and earlier, give Jumper a try, if for no other reason to see how awesome films like Predator would have been with this quality of picture.
Everything else about Jumper is so-so. The audio is 5.1 but never too outstanding (or too poor), and the extras do the job but little above their requirement. Featured are obvious ones such as the making of the film (which I admit does do a better job than some), a look into the special effects process, and another look at adapting the novel into the film, which is my favorite piece. No matter what you take out of Jumper, it will likely make you interested in author Steven Gould's original book. Take solace in knowing the book is (like usual) much better than the film.
CONTENT: 2/5
Jumper is a popcorn flick, plain and simple. You won't talk about it after you watch it, and chances are you won't remember it two years from now. Watch it for some mindless entertainment, and expect nothing more. Sometimes, that's more than enough.
VIDEO: 5/5
One of the best Blu-Ray transfers I've seen. It stands up proud with Narnia and the other fantastic video achievements. Scenes look real, the effects are amazing, and the colors are perfect. If you want to show off Blu-Ray to friends or family, this is the disc to use.
AUDIO: 3/5
5.1 (which is the average these days), but nothing stands out. There's no real loud action, but nothing falters. The effects sound nice, and the music is decent, but, overall, Jumper's audio is completely middle of the road.
REPLAY: 1/5
If you watch movies with friends to go all MST3K style, this one has much higher replay. Alone, however, you'll watch it once then likely forget about it. Unless, of course, you want to marvel at the technical achievements on your HDTV.
EXTRAS: 3.5/5
The extras you'd expect from a big budget film. The most memorable is a look into the adaptation process, and that will hopefully lead more people to the book (and other books in the future!).
OVERALL: 3.5/5
As a movie itself, Jumper is probably only a 1.5 or a 2. With the Blu-Ray presentation, video, and others, however, it's a much better BRD than it is a movie. It's spectacular looking which makes the haphazard plot and shoddy acting bearable, and that's saying a lot for how nice the movie looks. If you have an HDTV, you may want to at least rent this just to see how nice it looks. Whether or not you buy, however, depends on your tolerance of mindless, poorly structured action movies. Basically, 80s action fans will dig it.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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