Sunday, March 30, 2008

"Jumper" Movie Review

I went to watch this movie with my friends first. It was a rather good movie, with it's obvious ups and downs.

Title: Jumper
Cast: Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Lane
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Director: Doug Liman
Screenwriter: David S. Goyer, Jim Uhls, Simon Kinberg
Producer: Arnon Milchan, Lucas Foster, Jay Sanders, Simon Kinberg
Composer: John Powell


Plot: Jumper is a movie about a young boy finding out he has teleportation powers, and what he decides to do with them. His first instincts are to leave home, and get money. He lives life his own way, surfing in hawaii, having lunch in Egypt, and dinner in London. Eventually, his past catches up with him when Roland attempts to kill him. David has entered the war between the Jumpers and the Paladin's, and must now fight to stay alive and out of danger. The race is on.

Goofs (coutesy of
imDB)
  • Continuity: During the scene at the airport, while waiting for his girlfriend, notice that the jumper's grey t-shirt has three small holes on the upper chest. During the next scene, when he's arrived at his girlfriend's apartment, the three small holes on his t-shirt have gone.

  • Errors in geography: David's home is in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but in two scenes, his father is watching NY1, a New York City local TV station.

  • Factual errors: When David is perched atop Big Ben in London, the clock behind him clearly states it is half past 8, however the chimes are the same as if it were to the hour, rather than half past the hour.

  • Continuity: Despite the relatively short period of time covered by the main part of the film, during various establishing shots of Manhattan, the Empire State Building is seen to be lit for two different holidays, Independence Day and Christmas.

  • Crew or equipment visible: When they are in Rome, there is a wide, high-angle establishing shot of the Coliseum. On the street by the Coliseum, we can clearly see a film crew, dolly tracks and a camera.

  • Continuity: When David rents a room in the apartment, the room he enters first is room 256. However, a scene later when the manager goes to knock on his door and complain about the noise, the room number is 205.

  • Continuity: When Griffin crash lands the jeep in the war zone scene, there is a man clearly seen sat next to him. However, when Griffin climbs out the jeep the seat in which the man sat is empty.

  • Factual errors: The Mercedes convertible Griffin steals from the showroom has its steering wheel on the left. In countries with left-hand traffic (Japan, UK, etc), such as the one where the scene takes place as apparent from the driving scenes, cars have their steering wheels on the right side for obvious reasons; it would be very unusual to have a non-standard car in a show-room.
Trivia (courtesy of imDB)

  • Evan Rachel Wood turned down the role of "Millie". The part eventually went to Rachel Bilson.

  • The roles of Davey and Millie were originally cast with Tom Sturridge and Teresa Palmer. After 2 months of filming and inflating production costs, Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson were recast as the leads.

  • Eminem reportedly turned down an offer to star in the lead role. But an MTV report quoted director Doug Liman saying that his plan to have Eminem in the movie was dropped right after he met Hayden Christensen.

  • The crew was allowed to film inside the Colosseum for three days under the condition that no equipment could be placed on the ground. Shooting was allowed only between 6.30 and 8.30 am and again at 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm to avoid disturbing tourists. The only lighting allowed was natural sunlight.

  • The movie "Jumper" takes place in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The high school depicted in the movie is called Huron High School and area teenagers were allowed an open call to appear as extras in the movies scenes in and around the school.

  • Roland Cox's name in the original novel was Brian Cox. Most likely it was changed to avoid referring to the actor Brian Cox.

  • David mentions King Kong while on the Empire State Building. Jamie Bell who play Griffin in this movie, played Jimmy in the movie King Kong (2005).

What I thought:

I really enjoyed this movie. It was rather short, and filled with action straight from the begining. Shockingly it had correctly changed the time settings throughout the movie (so if it is day time in egypt, it would be night time in america) and other mistakes like this. I also thought that the cast selected were chosen well. This movie did not leave a lot of room for error, and was filmed very well. If you do watch this movie, then why don't you post a comment below and say what you thought about it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

lol thanks for the comment, i will have to see jumper with my friends some time :) it looks good.

also it be cool if you want to be affies :)

Aashni said...

Hey :) :) Thanxs for the comment. Sure, I will be affies with you, am going to send you a form now - but my site is about random stuff, and not neopets :) :)

Anonymous said...

Hey! I saw Jumper! It was an awesome movie. I just loved the plot, and the settings of it.

Anonymous said...

The error with the steering wheel on the left in Tokyo is not a continuity error. I know from my time in Japan it is fairly common to find European cars without the conversion to right hand drive. More of a status symbol that way I guess. I have to agree it was a great movie. Lots of fun.