I liked it a lot. A WHOLE lot. Now, I know when I like a movie that is a long shot from perfect. The pace was a little slow at times, and there was really only 4-5 action scenes. But, honestly... that's all forgivable if done correctly. The real problem was that the plot got lost... probably in the editing room. Things were picked up and dropped in lines of dialogue that deserved more attention, and the audience who isn't deep into Sci-fi, or doesn't have experience with telepathy wouldn't be strung along properly. This, combined with a poor use of everyone except Dakota Fanning made for a charmless confusing movie that could have really been awesome. I see that they took steps to make it cheaper, but there were certain things they shouldn't have cut corners on. Guns on wires is okay, but the script needed another re-write to accommodate the strengths of the cast.
But all that, for the sci-fi savvy, is utterly forgivable. Aside from some great visuals, with all the hong kong flavour and sparky bullet deflections, you've got some really great uses of powers. The telekinetic duel is not what you've seen before, and is a ot more frenetic... of course, you may have seen that on the internetz. What the Pushers do is so smooth and slick in their memory editing. Even simple 'Shading' hiding things from other psionics is used to epic proportions in a very cool way. What they've done with psionic powers is made them what they should be: game changers. Of course, with different skill levels, and a whole underworld of psychics, there is still a game, but its very, very different from the average cat and mouse, perhaps leading to the confusion in some of the less savvy audience members.
Dakota just made me a fan of hers with this. When she gets drunk, I couldn't believe they were allowed to film it, but it was funny as heck to me. I NEVER expected her to take on comedy, but she was funny. I wish they would've set someone in that scene as the 'straight man' and had some back and forth... it could've been a really great moment for the film.
All in all I give it a 7/10. It is better than average overall, but it still lacks a certain umph to be a real franchise. As someone who desperately wanted to like Jumper but found it hard to appreciate anything other than the powers (and Griff), I can safely recommend this movie to the sci-fi/comics/anime guy/gal. It doesn't bother to translate for the uninitiated, and a lot of build is missing from this movie in favor of style shots, but it delivers a fun ride and great uses, and abuses of power that give this "superhero" genre so much of the awe that makes it unique to the non-powered action movie.
In short: See it. If not now, then on DVD. It's something that deserves to be seen.
Not Heroes season 1...Heroes now.
