ragani | Jumper

I read Steven Gould's Jumper many years ago, and loved it. Later, the sequel, Reflex was just as good. A little while ago I noticed that there is yet another book in the series: Jumper: Griffin's Story. I decided to wait until it came out in paperback before reading it, so by the time the movie came out the other day, it was still a morsel waiting for me.

Now that I have seen the movie, I am not so sure I want to read the new book. The main thing that I disliked about the movie was how much they messed with the world from the first two books. It turns out that the timing of the latest book has a lot to do with the reworking that I saw in the movie. It turns out that Jumper: Griffin's Story reflects the movie more than it does the first two books. Concepts like "hunters" and even Griffin himself don't really fit with the way the first two books are written.

This reviewer captures much of how I feel about the difference between the two versions (especially regarding the first two books):
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/books/sfw16641.html

For more info on Jumper check out the wiki on the book:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumper_%28novel%29

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That the movie had some things that worked and some that didn't.

1. I liked the actor playing teenage David much more than the "star" playing adult David.

2. A protagonist who spends his life running away from most things has challenges winning the audience over.

3. They should have set it up more that the cables the Paladins tie down the Jumpers with are to anchor them to something too big to drag through a jump hole. It's an important limitation, or "rule" of the universe.

4. So, the guy becomes a playboy for 8 years, but suddenly gets the nerve to ask his childhood crush out later, because...why?

5. The guy flunked algebra...minor history point, but stupid lead characters annoy.

6. They set it up so much for a sequel...but the movie looks like it won't make back its production costs in the US at least.

7. Jumping a sports car all over traffic (it was in the trailer), seems pretty dumb considering it would only take a split second to go splat.

8. The jumpers were way too promiscuous with their power (also in the trailer)...they would draw way too much attention to themselves.
So, overall, I wanted it to be a cool universe that got your imagination going, "What if I could do that?" The effects were mostly ok.

Jumper

Saw it...and I thought...