ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Ever want to get away from it all?

Hayden Christensen knows the feeling -- and he can do it in blink of an eye.

Jumper was filmed in 20 cities in 14 countries between 2006-07, so you won't just see stock footage and matte shots. The premise, as you may have heard, is about a group of people with the handy little talent of going "poof" just by thinking about it. Now you see 'em, now you don't, and when the dust clears they're halfway 'round the world, sippin' a margarita and wondering which hemisphere they should have lunch in.

Hayden makes a nice living stealing things (which is certainly no challenge in view of his abilities), until Sam L. Jackson decides to kill him because Sam and his loony group of religious nuts believe that "only God should have the ability to be everywhere at once."

Gee, some folks get the oddest ideas, don't they?

Jamie Bell plays another footloose-and-fancy free "Jumper" who wants Sam dead because he killed Jamie's parents while trying to catch Jamie.

The movie was made for $85 million, and it earned $222 million, so you'd think we'd have a couple of sequels by now, but that didn't happen. Plans were heavily discussed, including the idea that jumpers could reach other planets and travel in time.

Ambitious! (Too ambitious? Hmmm. Maybe.)

The critics probably had a hand in killing the plans, because Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 16% based on reviews from 156 critics, with an average score of 4/10. The consensus was -- "An erratic action pic with little coherence and lackluster special effects."

Ouch.

I bought the DVD sight-unseen several years ago and had fun with it, but it didn't rock my world or anything. Don't expect too much and you'll probably enjoy it.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

The technique of "jumping" in this movie reminded me of "jaunting" in the sci-fi novel, The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester, which I read back in the '60s. Not only does the book seem to have inspired this movie, but once everybody is jaunting globally in the book, the special ability to "space jaunt" is discovered by the book's protagonist, which may have been instrumental in the sequel discussions mentioned by Bud.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Rocky Jones]

It looked to me as if this film in turn inspired the one season TV series, The Tomorrow People, which had a bunch of anguished, but pretty young people who could teleport, among other things. That one didn't have enough originality to keep my attention for long and that seems to have been the case with the viewing majority.

[Pow]

Always loved the idea of having a teleportation power.

I would no longer require an auto anymore.

Jump to where ever I wanted/needed to go.

Cool!!!

[Bud Brewster]

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Yep, that would be quite a time saver, not to mention the money you'd save on car insurance, gas, and maintenance.

No, wait . . . you'd still need a car when you went out on a date. You wouldn't want to scare the poor girl to death by "jumping" her into the middle a restaurant!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[tmlindsey]

You know, I KNOW I saw this movie, but I can't remember a single thing about it. Which, I guess, speaks to its quality/impact

Teleportation would be an awesome power to have since I loathe the process of traveling. I like visiting other places, I just don't like the process of getting there.
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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"