It does not take long to understand that ?Jumper? is not the typical ?man has superpowers, man uses superpowers to save the world? type of movie.
As David Rice (Hayden Christensen, ?Awake?) teleports onto his couch, a newsflash runs across the TV reporting that a flood has left hundreds of people fighting for their lives and only a miracle could save them. So what does David do? He teleports to England for a one-night stand, catches a wave in Fiji, eats lunch atop the Great Sphinx of Giza and gets home to New York before nightfall.
Looks like Spider-Man?s Uncle Ben needs to give someone the old ?With great power, comes great responsibility? pep talk.
Unfortunately, no teleporter could help director Doug Liman (?Mr. & Mrs. Smith?) get this movie to make the jump to a box-office hit.
The story, which is based on the novel of the same name by Steven Gould, begins with David as a dejected teenager who teleports to safety after a prank puts him in a life-threatening situation. Realizing that he has the power to ?jump,? or teleport, David leaves home for New York to start a new life, which consists of robbing banks and vacationing around the world. But even teleporting has rules and authorities to enforce them, which is where Roland Cox (Samuel L. Jackson, ?Snakes on a Plane?) steps in. Roland and his crew live to kill jumpers like David.
After his first run-in with Roland leaves David battered and bruised, David arbitrarily decides that now is the time to find his childhood crush Millie (Rachael Bilson, ?The O.C.?) and whisk her away on a plane to Rome (even a jumper has to mask his power) for a romantic getaway.
Not surprisingly, Roland captures Millie in order to force David to confront him. And in true superhero fashion, he enlists the help of a fellow jumper to be his sidekick.
It appears that Liman used up all his creative spirit on earlier works, leaving ?Jumper? with no soul of its own. The unimaginative story contains overused plot threads that have been seen in much better films.
Although the film is a sci-fi action flick, don?t expect much of either. Although teleporting fits the sci-fi bill, the audience is forced to just accept that the characters can jump without diving into why.
The majority of the movie is spent attempting to build up tension in anticipation of some kind of climax, but everything up to that point seems unoriginal and unexciting. As soon as the action finally occurs, the audience is on the edge of their seats ? but only in anticipation of getting out of the theater as quickly as possible.
Hayden Christensen seems to have an uncanny ability to find lousy roles, and ?Jumper? is no exception. Christensen moves through the movie with the same hollow, stolid personality as when he played Anakin Skywalker in Episodes II and III of ?Star Wars.?
Jackson?s character is no different. When one finally gets past Roland?s absurd platinum-blond-dyed buzz cut, you come to realize that the hair is the only exciting thing there. The story fails to go into the character?s background, and perhaps the only reason Jackson?s character is so vengeful is because he?s still pissed that Christensen?s character helped kill him in ?Revenge of the Sith.?
In the end, ?Jumper? is a hollow story that sounds much more exciting than it really is. The only lesson that can be taken from this movie is that life is much easier with teleportation.
Luckily, you can leave a bad movie just as easily as you got there.
1.5 stars out of 5
