Jumper

~I don't see as many movies anymore as I'd like to, but that makes the ones I do see all the better. The most recent film I saw in a theater was The Golden Compass, based on Phillip Pullman's young adult novel "Northern Lights". Being a fan of the book and its sequels, I'd been looking forward to seeing the film for years, and wasn't disappointed.

The film I'm most looking forward to seeing in the near future is Jumper. Also based on a young adult novel, Jumper tells the story a young man with the excellent name of David, played by Hayden "Skywalker" Christensen. David discovers that he has the ability to teleport himself at will, anywhere he can think of. After escaping from an abusive family situation, he uses his newfound powers to travel the world and enjoy himself (unlike a certain goody-goody superhero).

Problems arise in the form of a secret organization, the Paladins, who are dedicated to killing people with David's teleportation ability. Led by Agent Roland (played by Samuel L. "Mace Windu" Jackson), they ruthlessly hunt David and his friend Griffin, another Jumper. Here's the trailer:



Looks cool, doesn't it? The teleportation ability featured in the film reminds me of The Stars My Destination, a classic science-fiction novel by Alfred Bester. It's set hundreds of years in the future, when nearly all people are capable of teleportation. What's most interesting about the novel is that Bester delves into the massive societal changes that occur as a result of anyone being able to instantly go anywhere, at any time.

For example, the privacy of one's home becomes extremely important; since one must be able to visualize the location they want to "jaunt" to, nobody ever lets anyone (except their close family members) into their personal dwelling place. There's simply no way to ensure privacy otherwise. Capital punishment becomes standard for most crimes, since there's no way to effectively keep people locked up.

The attraction of a movie like Jumper, of course, is imagining just what you'd do if you had the same power that David has. Would you use it to help others, or (like David) party all over the planet? If it were me, I think it would be a bit of both. What would you do?