Movie Review: Untraceable

Untraceable (2008)

Directed by Gregory Hoblit

Written by Allison Burnett

Starring Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Release Date January 25th, 2008

Published January 25th, 2008

In Altman's brilliant The Player you hear his many Hollywood players describe possible projects thusly "It's Terminator crossed with Lassie" or "It's Roots crossed with Rambo" or other such horrors. This is based on real Hollywood parlance and patois. Producers and studio execs actually like using this sort of shorthand as a way of describing a project without having to read a whole script or listen to some creative type prattle on about motivations and subtext and the like. This practice is exactly how we end up with movies like Untraceable. No doubt, in some producers office some exec said something like "It's Hostel crossed with Network and Seven".

Untraceable indeed carries elements of each, not much on the Network portion; though the allusion is there. And, while I know some of you are reading this thinking that combo sounds really interesting you are missing the point. That is all Untraceable is. Some idea of a movie that producers can describe but fail to create. Ideas lifted from other movies and grafted onto the Frankenstein's monster that is Untraceable.

Diane Lane stars as FBI Agent Jennifer Marsh, the bureau's top expert in cyber crimes. With her partner Griffin (Colin Hanks), Jennifer tracks down perverts and identity thieves with a few quick key strokes and a call to the local cops to pick up the bad guy. Her latest case however is something entirely different. At first KillWithMe.com seems like some twisted prank. A kid captures a kitten and allows visitors to the site to dictate the cats fate. The site warns, the more visitors to the site the quicker the cat will die. After several thousand visitors the cat does indeed meet an ugly fate.

Soon the web murderer escalates to humans and Jennifer herself is on the killers list of potential victims.

It's nice to comfort ourselves with the idea that we would never go to a website where our page views are the instrument of murder. But, ask yourself this, have you been to one of those websites where you can bet on when Britney Spears is going to die? That website is out there and it takes a little bit of our collective humanity every time one of our fellow citizens casts another morbid ballot. I can't necessarily say that a website run by serial killer is the same as the macabre sickos who wait for a celebrities death with such fascination. Ask yourself though, if you could watch a celebrity die on a website, would you watch?

Our culture is becoming a pretty sick place and in that sense Untraceable seems to be pretty on point. Unfortunately, the movie cannot live up to the ideas behind it. The film unfolds in typically thriller-ish fashion. The killer, what luck, happens to live in the same town as our heroic FBI team. He kills, he taunts the authorities, he kills again and all that changes is the method of death and the quickness of the mass murder. To separate it only slightly from other mainstream thrillers, director Gregory Hoblit lingers on the torturous murder scenes as if he were paying tribute to Eli Roth and his Hostel movies. Hoblit doesn't seem to get off on the torture the way Roth does but the homage is there.

Hoblit wants to ape the popularity of torture porn without committing to it completely. In some ways that is even scummier than what Roth does. There is much that is scummy about Untraceable. What keeps the film from becoming truly disgusting is star Diane Lane who gives an air of class to the proceedings. Hoblit can't compromise his stars innate strengths and Lane elevates her every scene even as she is saddled with the nerdy void of Colin Hanks and lumpy love interest Billy Burke as the aptly named detective Eric Box, he's as charismatic as cardboard, Box is a perfect name.

Without Diane Lane we are looking at a movie quite similar to Freedomland, one of the all time bad mainstream thrillers. A more apt comparison may be to anything Ashley Judd made where she stars as either victim or cop. Credit Diane Lane, most stars are victims of movies such as Untraceable. She manages to elevate the movie with her star presence. That says something for her talent as Untraceable would have left most other actresses unemployable.

Movie Review Secretariat

Secretariat (2010) 

Directed by Randall Wallace

Written by Mike Rich, Sheldon Turner

Starring Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Dylan Walsh, James Cromwell, Margo Martindale

Release Date October 8th, 2010

Published October 7th, 2010

“Secretariat” is a shockingly square movie, even by the standards of the modern family movie. There is nothing remotely cool or modestly subversive about “Secretariat,” even as the film is set in 1973 the time of the Vietnam War, the beginnings of the Women's movement and the end of the Nixon Administration.

It was a time, ironically enough, when movies like “Secretariat” were rendered irrelevant by a gang of drug fueled visionaries who today craft blockbusters and award winners and have inspired a new generation of less drug fueled but equally visionary creative types who would sooner adapt videogames to the big screen than look twice at something like Secretariat.

There is nothing wrong with the story of Secretariat, the true story of Penny Tweedy and her amazing super horse which won horse racing's Triple Crown while captivating the sports world. Rather, it's an issue of style and approach, a boring, conventional approach that is crafted to be comfortable, warm and never for a moment cause the audience to do any of that awkward thinking stuff that other better movies do.

No, it's better instead to lull them into a pleasant, popcorn sated stupor than remind them of the actual history of the time in which Secretariat became a needed distraction for a weary nation. Weary of what? The filmmakers would rather you didn't ask.  

Diane Lane stars in “Secretariat” as Penny Tweedy, formerly Penny Chenery, daughter of a famed stable owning family in Virginia. Penny's mother has passed away leaving behind her ailing father (Scott Glenn) and no one to run the family's stables. Returning to Virginia with her impatient husband Jack (Dylan Walsh) and their four cute, indiscernible children, Penny reunites with Miss Hamm (Margo Martindale), her father's loyal secretary, and Eddie Sweatt (Nelson Ellis), the family's long time stable hand.

The return to Virginia finds the family finances bleeding red ink. The only hope is a rather unusual one, a coin toss. Years earlier, Penny's father made a long standing deal with the world's richest man, Ogden Phipps (James Cromwell), their prized horses would breed together and a coin toss would decide which man got his choice of the prize offspring.

Penny may have left her horse knowledge behind when she ditched Virginia for family life in Denver years ago, but her instincts remain and she knows which horse she wants and she knows she wants to lose the coin toss to get it. The scene with Lane and Cromwell is cute and effective and nicely lulls the audience into the overall feel of “Secretariat” a good natured, entirely square movie that would be boring if it weren't so pleasantly clueless.

The key for scenes like the coin toss or the obligatory celebration montages or the obligatory everybody dance and wash the horse scene or the obligatory dramatic roadblock to success scene seems to be the ability of director Randall Wallace to set these scenes without a hint of self consciousness as if no one would notice they are watching a scene of two millionaires flipping coin over who gets a horse. To his astonishing credit, no one in the audience did seem to notice or care. It was all so gentle and pleasant.

There is nary a moment of discord or discomfort in “Secretariat” as the film side steps it's true life setting in the early 1970's by quietly having Penny's daughter Kate (Amanda Mischalka) act out a play of war protest in front of an audience that seemed as passive as the one watching “Secretariat.” It's easily the most pleasant and passive war protest ever brought to the big screen.

One should see “Secretariat” if only for the shots of passive hippies, the somehow non-dope smoking types whose only connection to being a hippie is a hippie uniform, watching and loving Secretariat right alongside the proletariat parents of the film's likely target audience. It's a serene, almost Leave it to Beaver-esque pastiche of what the era would have been like had Dad and the Beav gone into the documentary film business and left out all of the supposed unpleasantness of the time.

The average episode of The Brady Bunch offers a more subversive view of the early 1970's than does “Secretariat.”

Now, before you howl that this is a horse racing movie and not a documentary about the tumultuous year of 1973, I will point out that the film itself brings up Vietnam by having the daughter be a protester, thus opening the vein for my line of criticism of the films portrayal of this actual period in our shared American history.

For the howlers, let's get into the horse racing stuff; it's not bad. Director Wallace takes us into the starting gate and puts us right in the action as the big ol' horses make their sinewy, snorting way around the track. It can come as little surprise that the audience, lulled by the pleasant passivity of the characters and the story, would be compelled to cheer the action of the horse racing scenes.

What was a little surprising was the cheering at the end of each of the races in the film, save the Wood Memorial which Secretariat lost. (If one of you mentions spoiler alert I will come through this computer screen) Secretariat lost the Wood but bounced back to win the Triple Crown in a dominant fashion that would seem to rob the final hour of real tension. Again, I have to credit director Randall Wallace for the effective staging of the racing scenes; they are compelling and even moving, even Secretariat's 30 odd length victory at the Belmont sealing his triple crown.

The racing scenes stand at odds with the rest of “Secretariat” which is depressingly square. Critic Andrew O' Hehir of Salon.com alleges an honest to god, Christian, right wing ideological conspiracy as to why “Secretariat” so blithely ignores the radical elements of its era.  O'Hehir calls the film 'a creepy American myth' and he's not far off. There is what feels like a creepy intent to all of the boring pleasantness of “Secretariat.”

I cannot truly assign any agenda to “Secretariat” however, aside from that of Disney and its desire to make a profitable sports film. “Secretariat” is merely a sports movie directly from the mold of “Miracle” and “The Rookie” and like those films, bled of all life beyond their uplifting finishes and obstacles overcome, Secretariat is a boring, well crafted machine of a sports movie fashioned from the Disney factory floor.

These movies are made with the intent to offend no one and somehow entertain all. They are meant as all things to all audiences and no one can really complain aside from whiny film critics who decry anything that isn’t some challenging drama or quirky indie romance. Hey, wait a minute!

To be serious for a moment; someone at Disney clearly believes that movies can be made that will sell to every possible audience, from red state to blue state. The conventions of the sports movie provide a safe place to try to find that all encompassing audience and with a horse story you can even appeal to women. “Secretariat” even has a female protagonist, a mother of four, women, family audiences, sports fans and kids! Kids like horses and their parents who are tired of cartoons will be able to drag them to the horse movie. Throw in John Malkovich as a clown and you have a movie with the potential to please all.

Sure, all of this market sensitivity makes my soul hurt but Disney is a business not a movie company. One can only guess that if “Secretariat” somehow fails, they will move on to the next soul crunching market driven bit of saccharine sports movie. For now, at least “Secretariat” is pleasant and hey, who needs to think.

Movie Review: Under the Tuscan Sun

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Directed by Audrey Wells

Written by Audrey Wells 

Starring Diane Lane, Raoul Bova, Sandra Oh, Lindsay Duncan 

Release Date September 26th, 2003 

Published September 25th, 2003 

It's hard to believe but Diane Lane has been acting since 1979.

Ever since her impressive debut in A Little Romance, Diane Lane was expected to be a star. Then came a series of flops, TV movies and impressive supporting roles. Then came 2002's Unfaithful, a drama about marital infidelity in which Lane fell for the romantic advances of a much younger man played by Olivier Martinez. The sexy, complicated role earned Lane an Oscar nomination and the kind of recognition that was expected of her years ago. Now with her first starring role since Unfaithful in the chick flick fantasy Under the Tuscan Sun, Lane finds true stardom.

Based on a best seller by Frances Mayes, Diane Lane stars as Mayes in this slightly fictionalized take on her personal experiences. Working in San Francisco as a college professor and book critic, Frances is happily married or so she thought. One night when attending a book release party for one of her students Frances is approached by a writer whose book, she panned. The writer tells Frances something about her husband that she doesn't know and soon the marriage is over.

Forced out of her home because of the divorce settlement, Frances temporarily holes up in a tiny furnished apartment with a group of other divorce victims. Luckily for Frances her friend Patti (Sandra Oh) is not about to let her wallow in her tiny apartment and surprises her with a trip to Tuscany. To assure Frances she can take the trip without being hassled by guys, it's a gay tour of Tuscany.

It takes some convincing but finally she accepts and she's off to romantic Tuscany. Once there, she falls irrationally in love with a villa called Bramasole and using all the money she has, she buys it. It's definitely a fixer upper with holes in the walls and floors and faucets with no running water. A quirky group of unusual Polish construction workers help her fix the place and get friendly over Frances's love of cooking for the guys.

Of course, in this romantic setting how can Frances not fall madly in love? On a day trip to Rome, Frances meets one of those men directly from a romance novel. In the best line of the film Frances asks the man his name and he say Marcello. Frances laughs and replies "of course it is.” Marcello is played by Raoul Bova, who does a fine job with an underwritten role.

The film isn't about Marcello, it's about Frances and this strange adventure that has brought her to the last place she ever thought she would be. This is a real terrific role for Diane Lane who needed to lighten up her work after Unfaithful. Nothing wrong with Unfaithful, she was Oscar nominated for the role and deserved it. I'm just saying that her role in Under the Tuscan Sun is a perfect change of pace that should guarantee her the stardom that has been expected of her since Time Magazine put her on the cover in 1980.

While Raoul Bova and Sandra Oh do fine work along with host of quirky supporting characters including Vincent Riotta and Lindsey Duncan, Diane Lane's true co-star in Under the Tuscan Sun is Italy. I have said it before and I will say it again, no country in the world films as well as Italy. The camera absolutely loves every inch of the sun-drenched coasts and cobble stone streets. When populated with characters as colorful as the country, it’s a wonder to watch.

Director Audrey Wells who also adapted the screenplay does a fantastic job in only her second time behind the camera, having also directed 2000's terrific Guinevere. Her story isn't overly complicated, and she does a great job of roping in the numerous subplots before one gets in the way of Frances in the main story. As sweetly absurd as some of these subplots are, it's a great task to keep them under control and Wells pulls off to near perfection.

Watching the commercials and trailers for Under the Tuscan Sun, I was amazed by Diane Lane's transformation from working actress to star. Her Oscar nomination only confirmed her ability, Under the Tuscan Sun shows Lane maturing into stardom in the classic Hollywood sense.

Movie Review Hollywoodland

Hollywoodland (2006)

Directed by Allen Coulter 

Written by Paul Bernbaum 

Starring Ben Affleck, Diane Lane, Adrien Brody, Bob Hoskins

Release Date September 8th. 2006 

Published September 7th, 2006 

The death of Adventures of Superman star George Reeves is one that has haunted Hollywood for years. Did this once successful TV actor take his own life during a party in his home in 1959 or was he murdered? The new mystery/biopic Hollywoodland does not purport to answer any that question. Rather, Hollywoodland exists to ask some probing questions about the death of George Reeves. A question that may be answered by Hollywoodland is whether audiences will ever again accept Ben Affleck as a big time movie star. If people cannot let Ben off the hook for his movie mistakes, after his exceptional performance in Hollywoodland, they may never will.

By 1959 the career of George Reeves. formerly TV's Man of Steel, Superman, was seemingly over. After breaking off hsi relationship with Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), the wife of Hollywood power broker, Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins), George Reeves (Ben Affleck) found his once promising Hollywood career suddenly shut down. Trapped in a loveless relationship with a woman he had met only months earlier; and with a serious drinking problem, Reeves went to bed on June 16th 1959 with little promise for good things in his future.

Does that mean that Reeves went to his bedroom that night and took a German luger pistol and put it to his head and pulled the trigger? No one seems to know for sure. Reeves' mother, Helen Bessolo (Lois Smith), is certain that her son would not kill himself. So certain is Helen that she moves from her home in Illinois to Los Angeles where she engages the services of a private eye named Louis Simo (Adrien Brody).

Better known for his headline making than his detective work, Simo was once a prominent studio detective until he gave away confidential information about a starlet's death to a newspaper. Now, working out of a fleabag motel room, Simo's most consistent work is following and photographing cheating wives. That is, when he is not fighting with his ex-wife Laurie (Molly Parker) over the care of their son (Zach Mills).

The death of George Reeves looks to Simo to be exactly the case the LAPD said it was; a simple suicide. But with cash in pocket from Reeves' mother and the chance to make some big headlines, Simo takes the case and finds far more than he bargained for.

Louis Simo is a fictional creation of screenwriter Paul Bernbaum and director Allen Coulter who use Simo in Hollywoodland as a shorthand character to reveal real life mysteries. The things that the Simo character uncovers and the questions he asks are legitimate mysteries that have kept the death of George Reeves in the headlines for years. This fictionalization does nothing to dampen the real life mystery of the death of Superman.

The one problem with Simo as a character are the subplots attached to him. Director Coulter, best known for his work on HBO's Sex and the City and Six Feet Under, gives far to much screen time to Simo's problems with his wife, her new boyfriend, and the issues with his son. And on top of all of that Simo has a girlfriend and another case he is investigating. Each of these Simo subplots take far too much time away from the far more intriguing real life story of George Reeves and his mystifying death.

This is not the fault of Adrien Brody who rises to the challenge of this difficult role. The first half hour of the film is spent establishing Simo as a character and admittedly, it tries the patience of audiences who came for the George Reeves story. A testament to Brody's talent is that he holds these scenes as well as he does. The scenes still try the patience but they are certainly less irritating because of Brody's magnetic performance.

Ben Affleck delivers a tremendous performance as George Reeves in Hollywoodland. A subject of derision for the past few years because of missteps like Surviving Christmas and Gigli; Affleck is redeemed as the failing actor who could not escape the shadow of his most famous role. Affleck brings to Reeves the charisma and magnetism that Reeves exhibited on television, but where Affleck really excels is in bringing out Reeves' sad, tortured soul away from the glare of the stage lights. 

Like Andy Kaufman, who suffered every moment of his time on the television series Taxi, George Reeves hated the role of Superman. Reeves knew that playing a kiddie show hero, as his Superman was portrayed, would typecast him as not being a serious actor. We know this from the testimonials of Reeves' former flame, Toni Mannix and while anything she says regarding Reeves is colored with bitterness over their break up, it does track with Reeves' post-Supeman life where he struggled against the kid show stereotype.

When Superman finally ends and Toni is unwilling to help Reeves's career by talking to her husband, Reeves ends it and gives Mannix a motive to kill him. Of course, the volatile studio head Eddie Mannix also had plenty of motive to want Reeves killed. Reeves cuckolded the studio head and since Mannix had a reputation for punishing his enemies, the Mannix murder theory isn't farfetched/ These are a couple of plausible but wholly unprovable theories that the film covers but nothing close to a resolution of the mystery is approached. Despite the strong conjecture, you are likely to leave Hollywoodland thinking Reeves took his own life/ 

Movie Review: Unfaithful

Unfaithful (2002) 

Directed by Adrian Lyne

Written by Alvin Sargent, William Broyles Jr. 

Starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Olivier Martinez, Michelle Monaghan, Chad Lowe 

Release Date May 10th, 2002 

Published May 9th, 2002

I have never understood people's desperate need to get married and buy a house in the country. Being a city person, I just can't imagine leaving behind the constant motion for the quiet serenity. There is something very dull sounding about spending the rest of your life with someone so far away from where there are things to do. Maybe that is what drives Diane Lane's seemingly happy, married mother of one to risk her marriage on a stupid fling. Or maybe she just needed to be in a city.

In Unfaithful, Lane is Connie Sumner, mother of one son named Charlie (Malcolm in the Middle's youngest, Eric Per Sullivan) and wife of Edward (Richard Gere), a businessman whose business is never really explained. The marriage is typically mundane. Edward takes the train into work every day and comes home at the same time every day. Connie doesn't work as often as Edward; her job obtaining items for auctions brings her into the city maybe once a week. 

On one particularly windy day, as Connie is shopping for her sons ninth birthday, the wind literally blows her into the arms of a handsome rare books dealer named Paul Martel (Oliver Martinez). Paul is a good ten years younger than Diane, but his lust for her is quite obvious. Maybe having a younger man find her attractive (or maybe Paul's cheeseball game, in which he gives her a book that he has planted in a particular spot for just this occasion) something stirs in Connie and her intrigue will lead her to stray from her marriage.

Edward is not entirely clueless. In fact, after Connie's first meeting with Paul, Edward senses something is wrong. Eventually Edward's suspicions grow to the point where he hires a private detective to follow his wife. Of course, he finds out what he suspected is true and this leads to a plot twist that is surprising, not for shock value but for how studied and quiet it is.

Director Adrian Lyne does something interesting with Unfaithful. A less-skilled director would have made Unfaithful into a predictable thriller with either the husband or the lover as some kind of psycho who flies into a rage and tries to kill everyone. Lyne, however, is more interested in the effect on the marriage. All of the actions taken by the characters are a logical extension of real emotion and not mere plot manipulation. Even toward the end, when the film takes its twisted turn, the actions still feel realistic.

Diane Lane is receiving the best reviews of her career for this role, and they are deserved. Gere is also strong, but the film's best element is director Adrian Lyne, whose lovely camerawork and studied pacing brings a realistic portrait of a troubled marriage that shouldn't be troubled.

Unfaithful is an interesting portrait of the need to break routine and cause change in one's life even if that change is painful and unnecessary. No matter how much two people love each other, there is only so much they can do together without getting bored. That may not be romantic or moral, but anyone who has ever been in a long-term relationship can understand the need for personal time and space and the need to have something that is entirely your own. This doesn't justify cheating on a wife or a husband but a film like Unfaithful provides a logical explanation of this destructive behavior.

Movie Review Nights in Rodanthe

Nights in Rodanthe (2008) 

Directed by George C. Wolfe

Written by Anne Peacock, John Romano 

Starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane Christopher Meloni, Scott Glenn

Release Date September 26th, 2008 

Published September 25th, 2008 

Sitting down to watch Nights In Rodanthe I wanted to get into the proper mindset necessary for enjoying a Nicholas Sparks novel adaptation. So, venturing to the theater I brought with me some chocolate bon bons, a carafe of wine and a box of tissues. I slipped on my sensitive guy sweater and went forth to enjoy a good cry while watching Nights In Rodanthe.

The mood enhancements didn't pay off. Despite my proper mindset, Nights In Rodanthe still stunk.

Dr. Paul Flanner (Richard Gere) is the only guest at a scenic North Carolina inn. It's the off season and the good doctor has offered the owner double the cost for a room. The owner however will be out of town and the inn in the hands of a friend, Adrienne Wells. Newly divorced, Adrienne (Diane Lane) is getting a weekend away from her two kids and dealing with a cheating husband (Christopher Meloni) who wants to come home.

Dr. Flanner has a secret as to why he is overpaying for a beach view he isn't interested in. He lost a patient and that patient's husband (Scott Glenn) wants to have a conversation with him. Convenience of plot aside, conditions could not be more perfect for forced romance between the doctor and the faux inn-keeper, especially after a hurricane rolls in.

The most glaring issue I have with Nights In Rodanthe is the inactive characters. Never do either Here or Lane give the impression that they aren't characters in a plot that is pushing them from one scene to the next. The script lays in little details in such obvious ways that small children could count the scenes till they pay off.

George C. Wolf directs the action with a tin ear for dialogue and pacing. His direction shoves Gere and Lane from one scene to the next with little care for actually motivating these characters from one scene to the next. The plot requires them to do certain things, be certain places and pay off those little details and Gere and Lane do things like soldiers just following orders.

Lane and Gere smoldered their way through the snaky thriller Unfaithful back in 2002 and earned Lane an Oscar nomination. In Nights In Rodanthe they try to  rekindle that smolder and find only ash. Lane is engaged and emotional and from time to time rouses the movie out of its cliche ridden funk. Gere however, is sleepwalking.

His character is supposed to be in a funk but he's also supposed to come out of it. Heck, there is even dialogue referring to his coming out of this funk. Yet, to watch Gere even the romance and the sex can't bring this guy around. Maybe he, like us, can see the writing on the wall and with a plot already pushing his character from one scene to the next, why should he bother expending any energy.

I can already see the emails explaining to me how this movie was not made for me, I'm not the audience, blah blah blah. I disagree. My credentials on being fair to a movie like Nights In Rodanthe are strong. I liked The Notebook, another Nic Sparks adaptation. I liked Under The Tuscan Sun which was just as wishy washy as this but had Diane Lane in a role where she was an active participant and not a walking plot piece.

I liked both Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies, definitely not made with me in mind but made with qualities that could be appreciated by any audience. Whomever Nights In Rodanthe was made for are going to be disappointed in this sop-tastic  tear puller.

Movie Review Jumper

Jumper (2008) 

Directed by Doug Liman 

Written by David S. Goyer, Simon Kinberg, Jim Uhls 

Starring Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Kristen Stewart, Michael Rooker, Anna Sophia Robb, Diane Lane, Samuel L. Jackson 

Release Date February 14th, 2008

Published February 13th, 2008

David Rice (Hayden Christensen) can be anywhere he imagines in a moment's notice. Surfing in Hawaii, lunching atop the sphinx, or across his apartment without having to step around the coffee table, David has the ability "Jump" anywhere. It's a cool talent to have. David uses this unique talent to rob banks. Don't fret, he leaves IOU's. That is the premise of Jumper the latest from director Doug Liman starring the perpetually quivery Hayden Christenson.

As a teenager David Rice fell through the thin ice of a lake and was nearly killed. At the last moment he imagined the local library and was transported there. Slowly coming to grips with this new ability to go anywhere he wants with a single thought, David starts by using his new ability to escape his angry bitter father (Michael Rooker). Needing a getaway location, David takes off for New York and is soon robbing banks to finance a comfortable lifestyle. It is then that he meets Roland Cox (Samuel L. Jackson) who is some kind of supernatural cop. Roland explains the plot, David is a Jumper and Roland is a Paladin. Paladin's hunt Jumpers and kill them.

Narrowly escaping his paladin encounter, David meets a fellow Jumper named Griffin (Jamie Bell) and is warned that Paladins will kill everyone he has ever known in their attempt to find him. This leads David back home and to the girl who he left behind, Millie (Rachel Bilson). While David watches out for the Paladins, he and Millie rekindle their childhood romance. Once the Paladins arrive however, it kicks off a worldwide war between Jumpers and Paladins. 

It's not a bad comic book premise really. The problem is it's underdeveloped as a movie. The rules for Jumpers and Paladins are vague and are sloppily made up as the movie goes. along. Rules then are disregarded when the plot requires them to be. The idea is merely a hanger on which director Doug Liman and his effects team can hang a number of huge special effects shots and a travelogue of worldwide locations from Tokyo to London to Rome to whatever other touristy location a majority of the audience might recognize. The effects aren't bad, for the most part, but who cares. If I wanted to watch the world go by I would watch the Travel Channel.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media