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TheFanCarpet.Com - Initial Reaction

Take a Chance... It's Surprisingly Brilliant!

While the majority of the film is brilliantly silly, Meryl Streep gives us an emotional show stopping performance of 'The Winner Takes It All. Who wouldn't pay to see James Bond singing 'SOS'? Pierce Brosnan was humorously over-emoting everything but it worked perfectly within the context of the film.

Donna and Sophie (Mother and Daughter) are perfectly cast with an uncanny similarity in both looks and personality. Julie Walters almost steals the whole show, sorry I mean film, with her performance of 'Take a Chance on Me'.

It does take you about 20 minutes to settle down from the excitement of this outstanding cast singing their hearts out. I'm not the biggest 'movical' fan but if go in with an open mind and a bunch of people and you'll leave uplifted and pleasantly surprised.

A disappointing adaption of the Jumper novel by Steven Gould. The creative team behind the 2005 action hit Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which brought Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie together to the tune of $186 million. Director Doug Liman, who started out doing indies like Swingers and Go, made waves in 2002 with his update of Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity.

Jumper is an exciting concept of rich young man with unimaginable possibilities, known as a jumper he has powers of teleportation. Yes! It sounds exciting but unfortunately felt more like a television episode with a large budget rather than a feature film with a beginning, middle and end. One thing I can't complain about are the special effects, they're indeed very well done.

Jumper isn't the type of action film that relies on its stars, none of them are really mentioned in the trailer and it becomes more evident when you realise that a major star like Diane Lane, who usually headlines a film, is taking a smaller secondary role. Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson produce some-what adequate performances but it's Jamie Bell that brings along a refreshing welcome of madness. One might think that Samuel Jackson's track record might help get people to see it, since he's starred in a lot of big film, yet he still has to prove himself as a box office draw on his own, as recent high-profile attempts like Snakes on a Plane and Black Snake Moan have failed to bring in the audiences expected.

I felt this film had such potential but unfortunately the final piece just didn't come together as well as I'm sure everyone involved would have hoped. The competition is high this week with the release of There Will Be Blood and National Treasure: Book of Secrets still playing. I will be keen to see how well the film does. No doubt it will draw in some younger fans thanks to its ultra-cutie Rachel Bilson and the surprisingly sexy Hayden Christensen. It's not all bad, but I was expecting something better.

Director Paul Andrew Williams wanted to "write a film that cost no money and was all set in one place". And the first sixty or so minutes stuck to this agenda pretty well; Two brothers kidnap the daughter (Jennifer Ellison) of a wealthy man, he sends out two crazy Chinese guys to kill them, nerdy brother Peter (Reece Shearsmith) looses the all important mobile phone and older hard-man brother David (Andy Serkis) swears a lot, all in the confines of a deserted cottage. The dialogue is just about snappy enough to keep this interesting. Not much to be said for the camera work – but it does kinda add to the atmosphere. And then they end up in another cottage and the blood bath begins.

It's pretty obvious why they cast Ellison: she has big bouncy boobs and her harsh liverpoodlian accent is juxtaposed perfectly with her blonde hair and Barbie doll face. No one really cares that her script rarely ventures beyond words too rude to publish here – the camera generally focuses on her chest/backside with the occasional headbut thrown in. Shame really; I was hoping she'd amaze us all with her diverse acting talent, but I guess it's a case of you can take the girl out of Brookside but you won't get an amazing actress out of a soap star.

Serkis in undeniably the star of this film. The perfect gangster with a heart, his sincerity and charm kept me watching throughout. I'm not entirely sure why he chose to do The Cottage – perhaps, like me, he was hoping this would be one of those rare things; a funny independent British comedy. But unfortunately it just felt like Williams had taken The Chain Sore Massacre and Hot Fuzz, cut out the best bits, stuck the leftovers in a blender and then forgot to cook it properly.

By all means go see this if you like blood, guts and rolling heads, just don't expect any intellect in the script.