Jumper: Review By CinemaguyMaster

Teleportation is one of the coolest powers a superhero can have. This extraordinary ability has been the dream of many scientist and adventurers (it’s like being invisible). In fiction, we find devices that would help the protagonists travel anywhere in the world, and therefore defying the laws of physics. In Jumper, however, these few “gifted” individuals don’t use any devices or magic spells. They are born with the ability to do it and not only that, they can teleport people and things around them. But unfortunately, the concept is the only thing I found interesting here. Everything else is a big bore with mediocre special effects, dead-end subplots, and a forced love story. Please if you can teleport yourself to another movie, you should do so.

Brief Intro Story:

An introvert teenager named David Rice (Hayden Christensen) finds out the hard way—he tried to recover a snow globe for his girlfriend Millie and almost drowned in a river—that he can teleport himself anywhere he wants. If he thinks hard enough, he can do it instantly. For the first time in his life, he feels free and decides to leave his drunken father William (Michael Rooker) and the lost memories of his mother Mary who left the family when David was five (she just disappeared without a trace). Now with his superpowers, he decides to rob a bank and succeeds. It’s easy and addicting, but he has to guard his secret.

Eight years have passed. And now David is a rich playboy—don’t ask where the money come from—who has perfected his gift and lives his life “traveling” around the world and having a great time doing it, but all that anarchy doesn’t make him too happy. After all these years, he decides to find Millie and maybe start a relationship. He meets her at a bar and they are happy to see each other once again, but not for too long. There is a small government agency led by Roland (Samuel L. Jackson) who knows the nature of these “jumpers” (there are more than one traveling the world) and would do anything to kill them. David’s jumping days might be over.

Review:

Director Doug Liman—yes, believe it or not, he is the same director who made The Bourne Identity—has created a film that has no sense of adventure. We see endless images of different parts of the world like the pyramids of Egypt, New York City and the Roman Coliseum like postcards for an internet travel slideshow. We never get to feel "freedom-to-do-whatever" in any of these so called jumpers. Not only that, we get some confusing moments with plot holes or things not fully explained. For example, the fantastic nature behind these jumpers or the organization that Roland is part of. There are simply no answers to these questions, but we get to find out about Daniel’s mother—her truth is so hilarious that I couldn’t help to giggle. After few destinations around the world, the whole thing gets tired fast.

Even the actors look debilitated and even bored after few jumps. Hayden Christensen is the first one that comes to mind. He shows no personality—I truly believe in his acting skills, but somehow they are not present here—and on top of that, his character feels distant, unappealing and unbelievable, just like his romantic relationship with Millie in the film. Then as a supporting actor, we have the veteran Samuel L. Jackson who is a rogue agent that hates jumpers and their malevolent abilities. That’s all fine but can we get a better hairstyle next time? His hair is so white that looks like it glows in the dark! It’s not just the way he looks that is so ridiculous, but the acting repetitiveness he is known for—he is virtually the same character in every movie. For a moment, I thought he was going to say “I’ve had it with these jumpers?” Oh, that was Snakes on a Plane.

What about the special effects? I have to answer that question with another question. What special effects are we talking about? Sitting on the top of the Great Sphinx and making people and things disappear are hardly “special effects” by today’s standards. The trailer shows most of the special effects anyways, and you don’t have to pay anything.

The Verdict:

Despite its good concept, Jumper fails to deliver a sense of discovery, adventure or action—basically it turns out to be more ridiculous than I thought. Hayden Christensen needs to fire his agent and land better roles like he did in Shattered Glass (a movie I recommend) because right now, his career is going nowhere and he might need a jumpstart down the road.