Movie Review: Jumper -- Ug

Today, Hubby and I went to see Jumper. I will write about why I went to go see this movie in a separate post. However, I'm not even going to write a proper review of this movie because, quite frankly, this movie stank. Big time. At the time of writing this blog post, Rotten Tomatoes gave it 16%. If you want to read a synopsis, check out Wikipedia.

I know that the main weakness was the script. The premise was interesting, but the execution was lousy. They needed to develop the whole concept of jumping further; instead, we're left to piece together how jumping may work through side comments and events in the movie. Not a bad way of doing things per se, but it lacked any organization and cohesion in the movie, and I was left with more questions and a feeling of dissatisfaction. I would have liked to see a little more of the history of the Palidins more, it would have at least made me understand their motivation better.

I certainly didn't feel any sympathy for the main character in the story, nor did I care either way for the "bad guys". All the relationships between the characters were very poorly scripted out. It's such a shame because there were some great actors, like Jamie Bell, who performed spectacularly in Nicholas Nickleby, and whose acting I really admire.

I'm still sitting on the fence about Hayden Christensen. The only other movie I've seen him in were the Star Wars movies. Hayden, in my opinion, can't act. He delivers his lines with a monotone voice, and always seem like an emotionless block of wood; he is part of the reason why I feel nothing but apathy for the main character. Most of the other actors, as bad as the movie was, at least put in a passable amount of acting. I even felt more for the Young David Rice than the Adult David Rice, because I felt the young actor did a better job than Hayden. I'm hoping that Hayden will improve in his other movies, but frankly, I'm not holding my breath.

I give this 3 out of 10, and it only even deserved such a high rating because, as a friend of mine who saw it said, "The movie was lousy, but the scenery was great!"