Jumper (**1/2)

What would you do if you could instantly teleport to anywhere? This is the premise of this slick action fantasy. Directed by Doug Liman (Swingers, Go, Mr. and Mrs. Smith), the movie is stylish, like all of Liman’s films, but, as with Mr. and Mrs. Smith, this only emphasizes how shallow the story is. (Smith writer Simon Kinberg also had a hand in this one, adapated from a Steven Gould novel.) The cameras swirl as the jumper (dull Hayden Christensen) lands atop the Great Pyramid at Giza, or Big Ben in London, where he spends much time when he’s not “getting digits” from women in Rio, or counting stolen currency in his New York apartment. But it turns out there are other “jumpers,” and also “paladins” who try to kill them, because, you know, only God should have that much power. Samuel L. Jackson, with a weird white hair cut, is the paladin in chief.

There is much that is entertaining in the movie, especially if you’re into special effects, but also much that is bullshitty and fake, even the way, when the hero takes his childhood crush (Rachel Bilson) to the Colosseum in Rome, she doesn’t take out the camera. Okay, small thing, but the movie, like so many others, is so all about quick cuts and iconic locations that the human elements get lost. (So did I at times; with all those cross-planet chase scenes, it was tough to tell where the characters were.) Jamie Bell, as another jumper, seems like he would have made a more promising lead character, or maybe just a better lead actor. As for the ending, it’s most notable for setting up a sequel.

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viewed and reviewed 2/16/08

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (**1/2)

The Fantastic Four was one of the less creditable Marvel Comics live-action adaptations, but it grossed over $300 million worldwide, and so a sequel was in order. For those who missed it, the Four are brainy/stretchy Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), cocky/flying Human Torch (Chris Evans), curmudgeonly/strong Thing (Michael Chiklis), and vapid/force-field-wielding Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), aka Sue Storm. Mr. Fantastic, the egghead, is about to marry Storm, the cheerleader, amid much media frenzy. But damned if the world doesn’t need saving first.

The FF movies are a little different than a lot of the darker superhero adaptations of recent years. The quartet have their problems, like Sue’s worries about raising a family while having to spring to the rescue every time some ultrapowerful alien threatens to destroy the planet. I think all of us can relate to that. They squabble too. But they’re not full of angst like Spider-Man, Superman, or, in his most recent incarnation, Batman. Unlike the vaguely similar X-Men, the public unabashedly loves them. Thus Fantastic Four and its sequel are more old-style adventures. The Incredibles provides one model for this approach that these films don’t live up to. The personalities are sort of one note. The dysfunctional-family motif is perfunctory. And, as with the previous installment, I sometimes felt that I was looking at special effects in search of a plot.

On the other hand, the borrowed-from-the-comic Silver Surfer character, the nominal villain, is better. Looking like the metal cyborg from Terminator 2, he turns out to be more complex than he seems, more complex, in fact, than the Four. In his plight there are hints of deeper moral themes than aren’t well developed. But perhaps that’s for a future installment.

reviewed 6/22/07

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