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Jumper
I've been a little wary of this film because it had Hayden Christensen as the lead character in the film, but this might be the first role I somewhat like him in. The story leaves some to the imagination, but I like that fact as I don't always appreciate the typical "Hollywood" style of film where they spend so much time explaining everything.
This film, like Doomsday, has always had a reoccuring knock with the story, and that is that they don't explain everything (in the case of this film, not Doomsday). But I don't think that really should be an issue, I think it is more of an issue with the viewers if they aren't willing to let their minds fill in the rest of the story and feel like they need to be spoon fed everything. The story does have some holes to it, but that is more from missing details then from actually storyline issues. They could have tied it all together, explained more how the ability to jump works, or gone into more detail about how the conflict between the Paladins and Jumpers started, but that wasn't the point of the film. The point of the film was the struggle, currently, between the Paladins and the Jumpers and how Hayden Christensen's character and that of Samuel L. Jackson would fight in their conflict. And I think it does a decent job of doing this. My biggest complaint about the story was that the use of Rachel Bilson's character, Millie, is done is such a way that it is a means to an end. One final thing that I like about the story is the fact that it doesn't make anyone out as being good. Christensen's character does give off a vibe that he is better at the end, but he abuses his ability as a jumper, which is nice, because that seems to be more realistic then most movies would portray it. Most films would have Christensen's character be completely repentant after the first wrong doing, but this has a more realistic feel to it, for such an unrealistic movie.
The acting is decent in this film. Jackson plays a pretty typical character, and Christensen, as I've said is better then normal. People knock Bilson's character and acting, for a good reason, but I don't think, like some I've read, have suggested, that it is because she is a terrible actress, it is more so that she is given a terrible role, as I said, she is the means to an end in order to bring to a head the conflict between Jackson and Christensen. They really don't develop her character at all, so she seems shallow and has a lot of pretty bad lines, because there isn't any development.
The visuals in this film are good. They utilize a lot of different locations quite well, and utilize them in an entertaining manner. This is another part that people complain about, the fact that the number of locations are limited, but I actually like this (and it is actually explained why it is limited in the film). They don't have the various jumper jumping all over the place because they can't, they have to "know" or have seen the location to which they are jumping. This makes it a better film in some ways as it doesn't make the jumpers all powerful (even though they are pretty powerful even with that limitation).
Overall this is probably a guilty pleasure film for me. I like the combination of action/adventure and sci-fi that this film has, and I really wish that I could jump around places like they do in the film. But I think this film is better then it is generally made out to be and it gets an unfair shake because viewers don't want to have to use their imaginations at all to fill in the details.
Overall Grade: B
Acting: B-
Story: B+
Audio/Visual: B+
I've been a little wary of this film because it had Hayden Christensen as the lead character in the film, but this might be the first role I somewhat like him in. The story leaves some to the imagination, but I like that fact as I don't always appreciate the typical "Hollywood" style of film where they spend so much time explaining everything.
This film, like Doomsday, has always had a reoccuring knock with the story, and that is that they don't explain everything (in the case of this film, not Doomsday). But I don't think that really should be an issue, I think it is more of an issue with the viewers if they aren't willing to let their minds fill in the rest of the story and feel like they need to be spoon fed everything. The story does have some holes to it, but that is more from missing details then from actually storyline issues. They could have tied it all together, explained more how the ability to jump works, or gone into more detail about how the conflict between the Paladins and Jumpers started, but that wasn't the point of the film. The point of the film was the struggle, currently, between the Paladins and the Jumpers and how Hayden Christensen's character and that of Samuel L. Jackson would fight in their conflict. And I think it does a decent job of doing this. My biggest complaint about the story was that the use of Rachel Bilson's character, Millie, is done is such a way that it is a means to an end. One final thing that I like about the story is the fact that it doesn't make anyone out as being good. Christensen's character does give off a vibe that he is better at the end, but he abuses his ability as a jumper, which is nice, because that seems to be more realistic then most movies would portray it. Most films would have Christensen's character be completely repentant after the first wrong doing, but this has a more realistic feel to it, for such an unrealistic movie.
The acting is decent in this film. Jackson plays a pretty typical character, and Christensen, as I've said is better then normal. People knock Bilson's character and acting, for a good reason, but I don't think, like some I've read, have suggested, that it is because she is a terrible actress, it is more so that she is given a terrible role, as I said, she is the means to an end in order to bring to a head the conflict between Jackson and Christensen. They really don't develop her character at all, so she seems shallow and has a lot of pretty bad lines, because there isn't any development.
The visuals in this film are good. They utilize a lot of different locations quite well, and utilize them in an entertaining manner. This is another part that people complain about, the fact that the number of locations are limited, but I actually like this (and it is actually explained why it is limited in the film). They don't have the various jumper jumping all over the place because they can't, they have to "know" or have seen the location to which they are jumping. This makes it a better film in some ways as it doesn't make the jumpers all powerful (even though they are pretty powerful even with that limitation).
Overall this is probably a guilty pleasure film for me. I like the combination of action/adventure and sci-fi that this film has, and I really wish that I could jump around places like they do in the film. But I think this film is better then it is generally made out to be and it gets an unfair shake because viewers don't want to have to use their imaginations at all to fill in the details.
Overall Grade: B
Acting: B-
Story: B+
Audio/Visual: B+