Film Bravado

Reaper · Film Bravado

It's been a couple of weeks since the last reviews but fear not movie fans I have been watching some, just spreading it out..... Todays barrel of mirth:

Juno:

Saw this one last week, theres been a mention on the forum about it already so i have a feeling you know what the storyline is about and if you don't look it up on the thread. Juno is a film about contradictions and opposites attracting. From the stripper turned Oscar winning screenwriter to the differing maturity levels of the film it comes across as if the film isn't entirely sure who it's aiming at, while this is a criticism of a lot of films, here it works.
Because the story centres around a now pregnant 16 year old girl who decides to give the child up, the maturity level would seem to be fairly high. Juno herself is a smart, grown up and witty young lady and is a direct contradiction to the stereotype that we all know and laugh about, though at the same time she can be a bit on the naive side when it comes to the big wide world. This strikes a cord because it's true, the majority of the teenagers we have now are fairly smart and worldly but at the same time because of their lack of experience there is distinct naivety that comes with it. For Juno she does the standard young thing of not appreciating just how easy it is to get pregnant at times and she also doesn't quite understand the dynamic of a marriage and how it can look when a younger woman keeps popping into the equation. She realises this nearly a little too late and in a scene that could have sent the film downhill rapidly, Cody Diablo (script writer) manages to avoid the obvious and rather boring plot tangent.

There are other contradictions and examples of opposites attracting here though, particularly in the realms of relationships. Junos would be squeeze is exceptionally indecisive, so much so that nearly every character in the film makes a comment about it. The surrogate couple in the piece manage to be the opposite ends of the scale in how they live their lives, the soon to be father is a relaxed, old rock fan whereas the soon to be mother in an unusual turn for Jennifer Garner is very much a repessive and slightly obsessive character. Yet these two people are married.

It's in these contradictions that Juno manages to display a very life like and real story which so many comedys or teenage flicks tend to completely miss. None of these characters ramble on with the self awareness of Dawsons Creek or live the cushy lives that we've seen in 10 Things I hate about You or The OC and it's something that has been missing from American film for a long time, we are all bored of the perfect pretty people who can sprout off about Marx and Plato on a whim.... We want real characters that we all understand so that we can get a different perspective on a certain issue or story.

For me the end of a film can be the make or break of it as I highlight in Jumper, with many films I've seen the ending doesn't always live up to the rest of the film. Juno is a happy exception, it stays true to the rest of the film and even manages to surprise us a little, but the scene of Bleeker and Juno on the hospital bed and then the final scene with the two of them are nothing short of heart warming and it was nice to leave the film with a warm chest.

8.5/10

Jumper:

Doug Liman has in recent years gone from being a practically unknown director to having a bit of a following. In 2002 he launched a film that was expected to be a dramatic flop due to it's C List star and various production issues including re-shoots (Which by film lore is a sure sign of a bad film). This film was The Bourne Identity and instead of flopping, it managed to reinvigorate Matt Damons career, launch Limans career, spawn two sequels (and a third sequel has been announced). Liman followed this up with Mr and Mrs Smith, which ended up as a fun action movie without quite the depth that Bourne had. So to Jumper we turn and find an interesting storyline (though Brits may find it similar to the Tomorrow People) with a good cast to back it up, so far standard Liman. Also standard Liman is the fact that there were serious production issues, namely after the costs spiralled the original two leads were replaced with Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson.

For those who don't know, in the film 'Jumpers' are people who can teleport to different places by sheer force of will, the word Jumper is used due to the method they actually move via the 'Jump scars', it looks like an over exaggerated step. This adds a nice little style to the movement of the character as they move through space and makes it all feel a little more real. Surprisingly the acting is all pretty good and anyone remember Christensens turn as Anakin Skywalker may be expecting more cringe worthy dialogue, thankfully that seems to be limited to George Lucas' scripts.
The Paladins are the bad guys of the piece and are out to exterminate 'Jumpers' because of their religious belief that only God should be in all places (Though these people are only in one place at a time, since when we did we start hunting people for driving or getting a plane?!), which comes across as a flimsy reasoning and possibly a little tactless with the addition of the religion issue. The technology they use to catch the Jumpers is fairly interesting and while a little far-fetched we aren't getting into Star Trek territory, it's also brutal in it's own way.

The film industry is having a hard time doing right by me when it comes to it's run times because films seem to be getting a little bit too long at times and then others are a little too short. Jumper is one of the latter, the first hour moves along at a decent pace without going to quick or slow, but then the last half an hour seems somewhat rushed. Almost as if the studio execs turned around and demanded that 10-20 minutes be cut, so now all the resolutions seem very unfinished. This could probably lead to sequel type stuff but I felt that they could have rounded it off and still left follow on material. That is probably my only major gripe with the film otherwise it's a fun action movie that does what it says on

the tin.

6.5/10