Jumper

[[image:jumper_ver2.jpg width="254" height="375"]] V.S. [[image:1458834-jumper_book_super.jpg width="267" height="405"]]
David does understand this much about his powers, however: he can only teleport to a place he's actually been before; he has to be able to form a clear picture of it in his mind, remembering it in detail. To this end, he begins traveling and videotaping places. But to begin a life free from abusers, David first does what any desperate seventeen-year-old runaway with teleportation powers would do: he robs a bank. Because he doesn't want to be a thief, David only does this once. However, the once is enough. A million dollars in cash can go a long way if you're careful with it.

 Soon after setting up shop, David makes the acquaintance of Millie, an older college girl he falls for, and the two of them begin a relationship. He tells her everything about his life, but holds back on the teleportation. This changes when another woman enters David's life -- his mother, chased away years ago by his drunken father. After a brief reunion and the promise of more, his mother is killed during a plane hijacking, which puts David on the path of using his abilities to foil terrorist hijackings around the world as he hunts for the one who killed his mother. (In a particularly chilling scene, David teleports a terrorist to the observation deck of the World Trade Center, several feet away from the ledge, letting them both fall to the ground only to teleport away at the last instant.)

 David's now rather-public displays capture the attention of the NSA, who have enough information on him to know who he is and where he came from. And, quite naturally, they either want him working for them or made incapable of working against them. But since the NSA has the inside track on the terrorist who killed his mother, David chooses instead just to use them, on his own terms. >>

 The Movie __Jumper__ and the book __Jumper__, are not at all alike. Director Doug Liman (director of Jumper) failed at trying to make the movie an adaptation of the book. The movie deviated from the book to often and held to many differences from the original story by Steven Gould to hold much resemblance at all the book. In fact, besides the title and character names, there are very few similarities between the two. I do not believe that the cinematic adaptation of Jumper was successful. That being said, standing alone the movie is quite good and provides watchers with many explosive fight scenes, thrilling chases, and dramatic encounters. Many of the characters in the book changed as they were put into the movie format.

 David Rice:  David Rice in the book was a nerdy kid in high school with an alcoholic father who often beat him and his mother until his mother left. David ran away when he discovered he had the power to teleport and escaped to New York. In New York he robbed a bank once and never spoiled himself with the money. He had small apartment and lived like a normal person for the most part until The NSA got involved. David Rice in the movie however is a completely different person. He ran away to New York where it is implied that he stole money from multiple banks and did this often. He bought an expensive penthouse and lived very casually and didn't care bout anyone but himself until a government official stops by. He doesn't walk most places, not even to his closet or bathroom or even to the remote control when it is two steps away. His personality is less obtrusive and he is more self involved in the film adaption.

Millie Harris:  Millie Harris in both movie and book forms of Jumper is David's love interest. In the book, Millie first met David in New York at a broadway show. She had been a student and 21 years old. She was kind and nice to David when they first met which compelled David to ask her out to dinner. She has a large part in both the book and movie and neither would be the same with her absence. IN the movie, Millie an David had known each other from childhood and were friends bordering upon becoming a couple. When David ran away to New York, Millie presumed he had died. She never went to college or left the country like she had hoped to do so when David found her years after he had ran away, he reconnects with her by asking her to accompany him to Rome.

Mary NIles:  Mary Niles is the mother of David Rice. In the book, she was driven away by David's alcoholic father and had to get facial reconstruction surgery done to her face to protect herself. David tracked her down and when they met, Mary professed how sorry she was for leaving him with his father and how she wished things were different between them. They had lunch and spent the weekend with each other and reconnected and loved each other once more. Shortly after the encounter, Mary Niles was killed in a terrorist hijack of a plane. In the movie, Mary Niles left due to unforetold circumstances when David was five years old. He heard nothing from her until well after he had Jumping for years and he had been captured by foreign officials and she had set him free. Later on, it is told that Marly NIles is a paladin, A secret government branch that is dedicated to hunting down and killing Jumpers. Her name is never specified in the movie.

Griffin:

Griffin is a major character in the movie that does not make any appearances in the book. In fact, in the book, A government official said that David was the only one with the power of teleportation that they knew of. When Griffin was five, paladins came to his house and killed his family. Since then, he has been hunting down the two paladins that killed his parents. His jumping skills are more developed and more defined than David's and he is a better fighter. He had taken up base somewhere in the desert to avoid being found by the paladins and is furious when David mistakingly leads the paladins to his doorstep. When Griffin try's to blow up Millie's apartment, where the paladins have taken Millie hostage, in an effort to kill the paladins who murdered his parents it results in David and Griffin having a fight/chase scene where they teleport many places around the world. They end up in a war zone where David ultimately stops Griffin from teleporting and stops him from using his bomb. When the movie ends, Griffin is still in the war zone and it is unclear what happened to him.

The biggest change between the book and the movie is the plot. In the book, it focuses mainly around David and his ability to jump only getting into the government part of the story about 60% through the book. Once this happens, The book still focuses on David's life as well as his issues with the NSA. However, in the movie, The book brings in the government chases and fights about 10% through the movie making the watcher feel as though they've missed a lot of backstory. The movie features a secret government branch that know all about jumpers and how to stop them. The paladins are specifically trained to take down jumpers. In the book, The NSA has never encountered teleports and for a while believe David is some sort of alien.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">If you were to chooses between watching the movie __Jumper__ directed by Doug Liman or read the book by Steven Gould, you should read the book. The book offers not only ore details, but also a better story line and more interesting characters. The movie barely scraped the surface of the potential that a story like this could have and I feel like if they wanted to make an adequate story they would have to include more than one movie and stick closer to the already great plot of the Book.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">