Write Blog

Reviewer: Ian Fenwick

Movie: Jumper

Samuel L. Jackson returns to the movies with Jumper, another rather disappointing choice of script; as if Snake on a Plane wasn’t bad enough for him. He co-stars alongside Star Wars actor Hayden Christensen, who unfortunately seems to have developed poorly as an actor, and continues to deliver unconvincing, rather confused looking acting throughout the movie.

The concept is good, it has all the Sci-Fi elements needed to keep an audience marvelling at the superhuman protagonist, what he can do and how he came to be. However, we are a 21^st century audience and sadly do not need to be impressed every 30 seconds or so. Once we have identified with the fact that this protagonist can jump in and out of bank vaults, shoot off to: Egypt, Tokyo, London, Rome, or wherever else takes his fancy, then the idea gets a little boring. I think the word on everyone’s lips will be overkill.

Weak acting, script and plot, left this movie with little else other than the special effects, which to be fair are very good indeed. Although sadly, the balance between script, plot and effects is something that the 21^st century filmmaker needs to work on considerably. It is no longer enough to dazzle the audience and sacrifice the logical development of character. I was left unconcerned about what was going to happen, what had already happened, or any of the main characters, least of all the dreadfully pathetic female protagonist played by Diane Lane.

I see this movie as a missed opportunity. It could have been made much more interesting with around half the amount of special effects. This time would have been better used to develop the characters and plot, and given the actors much more to work with. The movie needed time to evolve on the screen. This could be the launch of a host of spin offs, but if so it has fallen short of the mark in setting a standard. I remain really quite unimpressed and do not await a sequel, TV show or anything else for that matter. Jumper left me restless and in want of something more. The fact that Jumper was classified as a 12A is not an excuse to fill it full of unnecessary action that just patronises, and insults the intelligence of 12 year-olds. I have a daughter who would have been equally as dissatisfied as me.

• Decide which characters you want to focalize your story thought
  • whose thoughts are we going to access?
  • Whose head are we going in?
  • Whose eyes are we going to see the story through (this can be one or more characters?
• Decide on the narrator.  This will be related to your focalizer but will not necessarliy be the same.
  • You could have a 3rd person omniscient narrator, focalized through one or two characters.
  • You could have a 1st person adult narrator, focalized through the eyes of themself as a child.

• Make a plan for how your narrative will open.
  • What will be the first event?
  • What will be the first image you want to show the reader?
  • Do you want to start at the end and then use analepsis to return to the beginning later on?
• Now write approximately the first 300 words.  Don't think too much about it, don't edit it, just do it.
• Read it over and make any necessary changes which strike you immediately.
• Now show it to someone else.  If you want to write good fiction then you need to be receptive to criticism, and able to act on.  Find someone honest and preferably ruthless!