Beakerzoid
11-02-2008, 21:55
Released this week is Jumper, a sci-fi actioner from Doug Liman (the director of the first Bourne film). It stars Hayden Christensen as a guy who discovered at an early age that he could teleport, or 'jump', instantly from one place to another. Rather than going the comic-book route, he did exactly what 99% of people would do, and used the ability for personal gain. however he soon finds that there are people who hunt down 'jumpers' and eliminate them....
A film with a decent concept, but which fails to deliver its potential. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what doesn't quite work in the film, as it isn't a bad film - just slightly above average. Some failings in the casting department don't help the film much, with Jamie Bell being terribly miscast (he isn't eccentric enough for the unstable character he is trying to play), and Rachael Bilson as Millie is just seriously lacking in any ability to act. The story, forgive the pun, jumps around too much and there is a feeling that quite a chunk of the film is missing as it simply doesn't feel like a complete movie. Perhaps the intention is for this to be the start of a franchise, but if so they have done a bad job of making me excited for the future.
The action is reasonable well handled, but the dialogue scenes seem flat and forced, filled with plot exposition to ham-fistedly move the tale along. This is all the more confusing when you consider that Doug Liman (the director) was responsible for great dialogue infused films such as Swingers and Go, and also delivered the best (in my opinion) of the Bourne films. Hayden Christensen at least shows some ability that never surfaced in the terrible Star Wars prequels, but is not exciting enough a lead to keep us interested.
The overall feel is a muddled film that doesn't quite know what it wants to be, and leaves you a bit unphased and underwhelmed by anything that goes on in the film. Not a bad film, but a far cry from what it should have been.
A film with a decent concept, but which fails to deliver its potential. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what doesn't quite work in the film, as it isn't a bad film - just slightly above average. Some failings in the casting department don't help the film much, with Jamie Bell being terribly miscast (he isn't eccentric enough for the unstable character he is trying to play), and Rachael Bilson as Millie is just seriously lacking in any ability to act. The story, forgive the pun, jumps around too much and there is a feeling that quite a chunk of the film is missing as it simply doesn't feel like a complete movie. Perhaps the intention is for this to be the start of a franchise, but if so they have done a bad job of making me excited for the future.
The action is reasonable well handled, but the dialogue scenes seem flat and forced, filled with plot exposition to ham-fistedly move the tale along. This is all the more confusing when you consider that Doug Liman (the director) was responsible for great dialogue infused films such as Swingers and Go, and also delivered the best (in my opinion) of the Bourne films. Hayden Christensen at least shows some ability that never surfaced in the terrible Star Wars prequels, but is not exciting enough a lead to keep us interested.
The overall feel is a muddled film that doesn't quite know what it wants to be, and leaves you a bit unphased and underwhelmed by anything that goes on in the film. Not a bad film, but a far cry from what it should have been.