Jumper hops around a lot, but goes nowhere.
Despite a strong cast and some big fun special effects, the film is short, choppy and illogical -- and short, choppy and illogical enough to make you wonder what happened.
The filmmaker, Doug Liman, also directed The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, so it's not as if this thing was in the hands of amateurs.
And yet, amateurish is exactly how you'd describe the storytelling.
Jumper is the story of David Rice, a young man with a special talent. (At 15, the character is played by Max Thieriot; as a young adult, he is played by Hayden Christensen.)
In the midst of a life-threatening situation, David suddenly discovers that he has the ability to teleport. He can zoom himself out of one place and into another in the twinkling of an eye. Abandoned by his mother in childhood and raised by his ornery father, David realizes that his talent will allow him to run away. Or teleport away, if you will.
He teleports himself into a bank vault to get the money he needs to live on, and teleports out again to establish a life of his own.
Next thing you know, he's living in New York, he's turned into Hayden Christensen, and he amuses himself by -- poof! -- going to London, England for drinks and then -- poof! -- to Fiji to surf and then -- poof! -- to Egypt to sit on the Sphinx. All in a day's teleporting, people.
Then (gasp!) there's a quick scene with Samuel L. Jackson killing someone with a teleporting talent such as David's.
"You are an abomination. Only God should have the power to be all places at all times," Jackson tells the guy he's stabbing, suggesting trouble in the future for Paris Hilton and hinting that David's fun life of teleporting and robbing casinos will not be without conflict. Sam Jackson wants to get these motherf---ing jumpers off this motherf---ing planet, which means David is not the only person with his unusual talent.
Soon enough, he meets another jumper (Jamie Bell) and discovers that jumpers and individuals called Paladins have been fighting since ancient times.
Just why isn't made too clear, but it leads to some nifty fight scenes between our jumper heroes and Jackson's villains. The fact that most of the action in the film hinges on David's devotion to his girlfriend is a little tedious.
About an hour into this thing we really started to identify with the hero and longed to teleport out of the theatre and into a nice tavern, perhaps, but no such luck. There was more.
Jumper has a story that appears to have been made up as they went along -- suddenly there's a "jump scar" that allows jumpers to be traced? Oh -- now there's a machine they can get you with? Convenient. And then there's Diane Lane as the deus ex machina. What a jumble.
And the acting is fairly wooden. Still, the movie isn't horrible, but it is pedestrian, and bound to disappoint fans of Stephen Gould's novel and of science fiction in general.
Word has it that this film is the first in a trilogy, so let's hope the action picks up in the next installments. We'll keep you posted.
(This film is rated PG)
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