Jumper: Anywhere is possible

I took leave to take my my Citroen Picasso for routine 15,000km service at Brooklands. The mechanics did a good job completing the service by 2pm and I thought I'd just see whether the movie "Jumper" was featuring today in my favourite cinema, Damansara Cathay Cineleisure. Mommy and I got Grandma to babysit Clarissa, Christa and Benedict for the night and set our pre-Valentine's Day mood. Finally, we got to watch the movie we were waiting for, alone!

The movie was about a 'normal' teenager called David Rice who had a crush on his classmate, Millie. He decided to surprise her with a crystal ball gift and was apprehended by a bully who snatched it away from him. To his dismay, the bully threw it onto a frozen river by the school. Despite the persuasion of his friends, David walked down the frozen lake to retrieve the ball. As he was returning, the frozen ice gave way sending David spiralling into the icy waters. He tried in desparation to reach the surface but he could not break the ice. Suddenly, he found himself in the alley of Ann-Arbor Library (he had jumped or teleported). After returning home late due to the distance he had to walk home, his drunken father went into a rage. He then 'jumped' himself back into the library to escape his father only to 'jump' home shortly. It was then that he decided to leave his dad in his mother's footsteps (His mother, Mary, left home when he was 5 years old).

Curious with what he could do, he decided to perfect his teleporting skills inluding visiting various tourist attractions, entering into bank vaults illegally and going shopping (to pay for his bills). His 'jumps' were followed closely by Roland who was after 'jumpers'. He even had to fight off Roland despite being stunned by futuristic Tazer guns.

After 8 years, he decided to look for his first love, Millie and found her working as a bar-hostess. He swept her off to Rome where they had an intimate moment (sexually explicit). During the unauthorised visit to the Colesseum, David met another 'jumper' called Griffin. Griffin educated him about 'Jumpers' (a special being with powers to teleport themselves) and 'Paladins' (a breed of cunning, religious extremists whose main passion is to see 'jumpers' dead). Griffin ends up killing two 'paladins' who came to kill them. A tourist guide witnessed the killing and alerts the police. David was caught and interrogated by the police. He soon frees himself from the police and gets Millie onto the plane back to Detroit.

Roland decides to kill David's father and kidnap Millie. Upon finding out that his father is dead, David urges Griffin to team up with him to kill Roland. Sensing that they would be ambushed if they tried to rescue her, Griffin refused. In a fight to change his mind, Griffin ends up getting trapped in an electricity grid.

Sure enough the love-struck David returned to save his girlfriend only to be struck by multiple Tazer nets trapped to the wall and ceiling.

You need to watch this movie to find out how it ends. I would recommend this movie to anyone who loved the Matrix or Highlander. You'll find it just as special effects entertaining although some critics say there isn't much of a story line. I believe there could be a sequel to it too!


Rating: U (although there are some action violence, some language and brief sexuality)
Running time: 1Hour 29 minutes
Starring: Hayden Christensen (David); Jamie Bell (Griffin); Rachel Bilson (Millie); Diane Lane (Mary); Samuel L. Jackson (Roland).
Directed by: Doug Liman; written by David S. Goyer, Jim Uhls and Simon Kinberg, based on the novel by Steven Gould; photographed by Barry Peterson; edited by Don Zimmerman, Dean Zimmerman and Saar Klein; music by John Powell; production design by Oliver Scholl; visual effects supervised by Joel Hynek; produced by Kinberg, Arnon Milchan, Lucas Foster and Jay Sanders.