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Ghosts of Joe Slovo
Poetry, Politics, and Polemics
Jumper
Posted on 2008.02.14 at 08:10I am currently::
contemplative
I really hope this movie doesn't suck.
10 years ago or so, I was in my local bookshop browsing the sci-fi aisles and I found this unassuming book about a teenager who discovers, under duress, that he can teleport or "jump". This is not a particularly ground-breaking subject area, but the execution of the idea was really superb. Not only did the author capture what it was like to be on the cusp of adulthood and "freedom", but he did a really fine job dealing with relationships within the universe he had created. All the characters were fully realized and the budding romantic relationship between the hero and the heroine was presented in what I found to be a feminist worldview.
Judging from the ads for the movie version of Jumper I'm fearing that what I found to be the most compelling aspects of the book have been subsumed to the action elements. I'm hoping not, but assuming the worst, given the bucks behind the effort and the most recent pedigree of the director (Doug Limon - The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith), though he does have Swingers to his credit as well.
Anyway, if you are going to see the movie, read the book as well. You'll thank yourself later.
Kick ass and read sci-fi.
10 years ago or so, I was in my local bookshop browsing the sci-fi aisles and I found this unassuming book about a teenager who discovers, under duress, that he can teleport or "jump". This is not a particularly ground-breaking subject area, but the execution of the idea was really superb. Not only did the author capture what it was like to be on the cusp of adulthood and "freedom", but he did a really fine job dealing with relationships within the universe he had created. All the characters were fully realized and the budding romantic relationship between the hero and the heroine was presented in what I found to be a feminist worldview.
Judging from the ads for the movie version of Jumper I'm fearing that what I found to be the most compelling aspects of the book have been subsumed to the action elements. I'm hoping not, but assuming the worst, given the bucks behind the effort and the most recent pedigree of the director (Doug Limon - The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith), though he does have Swingers to his credit as well.
Anyway, if you are going to see the movie, read the book as well. You'll thank yourself later.
Kick ass and read sci-fi.