I just read a novel by Steven Gould called Jumper. Is the recent movie of the same name loosely based on that novel? I heard the movie basically sucked but I thought the novel was actually pretty good. What did they screw up in the movie?
I haven’t seen the movie, but from what I’ve heard, the government agents have been replaced with a cult that wants to destroy the Jumpers (Davey isn’t the only one anymore).
I just read the book too (I’d always wanted to and when the movie was announced I figured it was a good a time as any) and I enjoyed it, but I couldn’t get over the fact that Davey was perfect at practically everything.
Lemme put it this way: did you think that Hayden Christensen did a good job of acting in Star Wars? Then you’ll like this movie, which really seems to slow down once he comes into it. In my opinion, you don’t care about anyone in this film. Rachel Bilson’s an idiot (who seems to play the same person in every film) Sam Jackson is phoning it in, and just it makes the whole exciting idea of the teleportation moot and dull. The special effects are very good and watchable though, so it’s not all bad, and Jamie Bell is fun and watchable, and the movie should have been about him, dammit.
Your questions were answered in this thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=456117&highlight=jumper
I never heard of the book till ads for the movie started coming out. I went and read Jumper and its sequel, Reflex, really enjoyed them both, then looked at the trailers again, read the early reviews and thought, “How’d they manage to screw that up?” I don’t expect a movie to be exactly like the novel it’s adapted from, but the changes I’ve read about make no sense either logically or dramatically.
Steven Gould himself showed up in a discussion on the www.imdb.com boards; he was philosophical about it, and said that no matter how they did the movie, it’s out of his hands and doesn’t take away from the books he wrote. (I guess that Hollywood money doesn’t hurt either.)
Gould’s book Wildside would also make a great movie. Somebody’ll probably screw that up too.
One jumper question that hasn’t been asked…
Last night, I was talking with Lady Slant about jumper, and commented that the Paladins would have done better with handguns than they were doing with the little electrical whip things.
The lady indicated that it appeared the whips inhibited jumping even before they hit the jumper they were targeting.
Did anyone else get that from the movie?
I was about to write a pissy post saying “How exactly is Stephen Jay Gould posting on IMDB when he’s dead” but I’m glad I didn’t as a few moments internet searching showed me that there are two authors by that name. Smack-face smiley averted.
I enjoyed Jumper, even though the Paladins as a premise were utterly ridiculous. Given that the ability to teleport is one of my three wishes I had to see it to see if the protagonist lived the same kind of life that I’ve imagined I’d have if I had that power.
[Nelson]Ha ha![/Nelson]
I really recommend the novel; think you’d enjoy it.
The movie could have been real great with better acting. I thought the british kid was decent enough but everyone else sucked. You did not care for them.
I really enjoyed the book, and I’m working on the sequel now. Like Baldwin, I watched the trailer again after finishing the book, and I’m pretty sure the only things the book and the movie have in common are:
- They are both named “Jumper.”
- They both feature teleportation.
- That’s it.
The whole paladins thing looks completely ridiculous, but obviously I haven’t seen the movie so maybe they make some sense of it that’s not apparent in the trailers. Does the movie give a better explanation of why the paladins are hunting the jumpers aside from “that’s what the script says to do?”
Also, what exactly were the movie people thinking? (general plot spoilers from the book to follow)
Hmm, man teleports, fights of the government and foils terrorists around the world? Too boring. Let’s get Sam Jackson in there to hunt him for little or no reason!
Has anyone read the new book that Gould wrote to go with the movie? Something to do with a character named Griffin I think?
Perhaps because they were ARAB terrorists?
They are no longer allowed to be the bad guys in movies.
I quite liked the book - I felt it was trying very hard to really come up with what you would really do if you could suddenly teleport and you were a teenager. It seemed very thought-out and considered. I laughed so hard when I saw the movie trailer I think I may have snorted my drink out of my nose.
ETA - I also liked that a lot of the conflict/drama in the book really had nothing to do with the teleportation, like his mom’s shocking, sudden death.
At first when that happened I was all, WTF? But then, you know, just because you have a superpower doesn’t mean that everything in the world has to do with it.
Yeah, I have. It’s called “Jumper: Griffin’s Story”. It’s based on the world-view from the movie. I like Gould’s writing style, and this novel was no different. It does give a good background story for why Griffin is the way he is.
I’d say go ahead and read it. Just remember that it isn’t set in the same world as the original “Jumper” novel.
J.
Yeah, I noticed it. Jackson’s character predicted that Hayden’s character would jump towards him when they first met (well, toward and past him/behind him), and at other times in the movie. I think the first time, Jackson put the baton where Hayden would have been had he been moving normally, but also pretty close, if not exactly where Hayden jumped. The result was Hayden jumping back in into massive pain and some electric current running through him. The movie seemed fairly consistent with when this effect happened.
Overall, I would give the movie an “incomplete.” The wiki article on the book doesn’t sound that interesting. If I have some free time, I may give it a read based on the posts in this thread. There definitely seemed like there could be a good story, but the pacing of it practically screamed a sequel.
The original book is one of my favorite books. Please don’t judge the book by the movie.
Go for it man. The book is a fast read, and it’s miles better than that lame wiki entry makes it sound.
I just watched the movie on DVD last night, and basically enjoyed it.
To your question, yes they explained the Paladins to an extent. Jumpers have been around since at least the middle ages and the Paladins are a religious branch of the whole crusades and witch-hunt thing, and feel people shouldn’t have a power that is too close to a power that only God should have. Also, they feel jumpers always, inevitably, turn bad and use their ability to do bad things. The main character tells the Samuel Jackson character, “I could have dropped you off with the sharks, I told you I’m different.” That just begs for an ongoing story. When David was younger and stole from banks, he left notes behind saying “IOU” and “sorry, I’ll pay you back.” Jackson’s character acknowledged that, and wondered, “what kind of bank robber does that?”
I kept thinking, “this is a fairly good movie, but it really should be a TV series. There’s a lot to this story I’d like to see further developed, and it just doesn’t fit in a two hour movie.”
I’d like to know: Did dad die? What happened to the other, Brit jumper guy? Does Roland ever come to accept David is in fact, “different?” Does David’s mom suffer any repercussions from having known about her son and leaving him instead of turning him in?
Hayden Christiansen has said a sequel is in the works, but who knows when (or if) it’ll ever get made.
I’d like to see it get made.
Another thing that made perfect sense to me: The Paladins execute jumpers because the always turn bad. Jumpers apparently manifest their ability around age five. Well, that makes perfect sense. A five-year-old who suddenly learns they can do anything they want is a sure recipe for a sociopath. But, David made his first jump at age five, his mother left him, he doesn’t remember that first jump and didn’t do it again until 15, by which time he’d developed a normal set of morals and ethics. So, he is different from other jumpers. I was curious if that other jumper guy had even attended school since he was five. How did he get socialized and what sort of education has he had if he’s been doing whatever he wants since he was five years old? You almost can’t blame the Paladins for wanting to exterminate jumpers.
That’s pretty much what the prequel book covers…