Bayside resident Mark Metcalf is an actor who has worked in movies, TV and on the stage. He is best known for his work in "Animal House," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Seinfeld."
In addition to his work on screen, Metcalf is involved with the Milwaukee International Film Festival, First Stage Children's Theater and a number of other projects, including the comedy Web site, comicwonder.com.
He also finds time to write about movies for OnMilwaukee.com. In this week's installment of the Screening Room, Mark looks at "Jumper."
JUMPER (2008)
Overindulgence in special effects, coupled with a lack of story line, rather ruined the "Star Wars" movies (I, II and III) for me.
The effects thing is mostly because so many times a film will become about what can be done with the camera and the effects and not about the people and the story.
The lack of story line in I, II, and III is mainly due to lousy acting. My son and his friend Alyssa really hate Mace Windu and I understand why. Samuel L. Jackson is walking through it with his usual glower, waiting for the paycheck and the next movie where he can play a hard-ass.
Natalie Portman holds her own against ridiculous costumes. Making matters worse, she has to act with Hayden Christensen -- who really drags the movie down like a wild duck to the bottom of the lake and holds on until all breath of life is gone. Somehow, he managed to get another job. I guess he's pretty by some accounts and that is often enough.
Christensen is the star of "Jumper." Doug Liman directs "Jumper." He also directed "The Bourne Identity," which is still my favorite Bourne movie. It has a human dimension that the others lack. I think it is because of the woman, Franke Potente. And maybe because they don't seem to be planning ahead to the sequels quite so much. "Jumper" is all about the sequels. It has a non-ending finish, leaving plenty of openings for the next one and the promise of a job to most of the characters that are still alive. In the DVD Bonus Features, they talk about how they planned from the beginning to make three movies. I think, in order to do that, the first one has to be successful. I hope they all have other projects on which to work.
The effects are pretty good. The editing is very good. It has that adrenaline rush that the Bourne movies made necessary in any action movie. Julius thought the lead woman, Rachel Bilson, was attractive in a not-typically-Hollywood-way, and I agree. She brings a contemporary and non-actory edge to it.
Jamie Bell as the rogue "jumper" who helps Christensen's character learn his way around the other dimension is very good. But Hayden Christensen -- with his hangdog, sad little face and fluttering lashes -- is a black hole in the middle of the film. He sucks any life and reality right out of it. When anyone with any edge plays off him, nothing comes back. It just soaks in as if he was a sponge. It would be like playing tennis against water.
They only hint at any science behind the lead characters' ability to jump through space. It is called teleportation. People throughout history have been able to do it and it seems none of them has been curious enough to try to understand how or why.
The Samuel L. Jackson character leads a group of people that are trying to track the "jumpers" down and kill them. There is no real explanation of why they are doing that, but the government wants them to, so they do. That's the world in which we live. If the government says do it, we do it. That's a little bit like Nazi Germany, but that has nothing to do with this film.
There is only the barest mention of any relationship to being able to travel through space instantly and the ability to stop, or manipulate time. I tried to explain to Julius how space and time are really the same thing - space is a way of measuring time, and time a way of measuring space and both are ways of describing existence. He began to get it, but I think he finds a lot of my explanations boring lately. He's 13, and if it's not in "Family Guy," it may as well not exist. "Jumper" won't be in "Family Guy." It's not even worthy of their mockery. Although I'm sure Hayden Christensen will make an appearance. He is definitely worthy of mockery.
Mark Metcalf is an actor and owner of Libby Montana restaurant in Mequon. Still active in Milwaukee theater, he's best known for his roles as Neidermeyer in "Animal House" and as The Maestro on "Seinfeld."
Originally from New Jersey, Metcalf now lives in Bayside.
