A teenager from an abusive household discovers he can teleport from one place to another. He uses this ability to search for the man he believes is responsible for the death of his mother.
A silly and misleading title if ever there was one; for what looks like a movie that's about to blow the lid on Anakin Skywalker's secret obsession with pullovers and the occasional sweater-vest, is actually an entertaining, if inherently absurd, sci-fi actioner based on a popular set of novels by Steven Gould. Hayden Christenson is the kind of superhero we'd all be given half a chance; a jumper (i.e. teleportation powers) who, like a surreal combination of 'Marvel's' Nightcrawler & Madcap, uses his gifts for larking about, robbing banks (all whacked off of Scooby Snacks) or picking up women. Needless to say, Hayden's intercontinental gambado eventually draws the unwelcome attention of silver haired villain, and fellow Jumper Samuel L. Jackson (good to see old Jedis going tête-à-tête with the world as their battleground). Director Doug Liman, whose helmed three of my favourite movies from the last decade ('Swingers', 'Go' and 'The Bourne Identity') seems in as great a hurry to move onto his next project, as our protagonist is to escape the clutches of Jackson's ruthless anti-Jumper death squad (he's more of a all-in-one thermals man). Hayden Christensen continues to impress, despite receiving an awful lot of flack from audiences & critics alike, people don't seem to appreciate that Hayden embodies the moody, aloof, mildly rebellious demeanour of classic Hollywood actors like Robert Stack & Sal Mineo Jr. Christensen, in much the same way as he did in 'Episodes II & II', grounds his character in a universally identifiable reality, though the script, which seems to exist solely as a springboard for future 'Jumper' sequels, gives him little to work with in terms of back story, and in that respect he's a lot like Jason Bourne; not so much interacting, as colliding with would-be ally / jumper Griffin (Jamie Bell), vacuous love interest Millie (Rachel Bilson from the 'OC') and a variety of exotic locations. Some of the tricked out, hyper-kinetic camerawork was reminiscent of Kip Pardue's euro trip in 'Rules Of Attraction' whilst a lot of the action scenes took their cues from John Woo's 'Paycheck', the only problem being, that after 'Heroes'; super feats that once wowed movie going audiences the world over, are now considered commonplace and mildly impressive, whilst the comic book sci-fi genre itself seems a little passé. 'Jumper' isn't a great movie by any stretch; riddled with numerous plot holes and annoyingly obvious sequel set ups, it just about makes up in pace what it lacks in substance; and since they've honed the teleportation effect, it can only be a matter of time before some bright spark gives Alan Cumming a call to reprise his role as Kurt *Bamph* Wager a.k.a. Nightcrawler. With good performances and a breezy, undemanding storyline, 'Jumper' ought to keep you entertained for 90 minutes, but will have teleported itself into the realms of obscurity, long before the end credits. Stylish, forgettable fun.
Doug Liman makes classy, slick movies, Swingers, Go, The Bourne Identity, Mr & Mrs Smith. They"re not always brilliant but they always have a strong cast, Vince Vaughan, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, they"re some of the biggest money-spinners in the industry. It appears that Liman has a lot of pulling power in Hollywood and his latest effort Jumper is no different. Hayden Christensen, Samuel L Jackson and Jamie Bell is a considerable cast list.
With Jamie Bell fresh from starring in the slightly odd but still excellent Hallam Foe he was probably looking for something a bit more physically thrilling, and he found it. Jumper is packed with action and locations, locations, locations, some might feel a little forced, others will feel realistic, well if you could jump by the power of your mind anywhere in the world then you probably would go to Rome, Paris, Fuji and London wouldn"t you?
The script is by David S Goyer who"s written just about everything that there is in the field of comic book and graphic novels adaptations, he"s a bit hit-and-miss for me but maybe that"s because I sometimes confuse him with Guillermo del Toro who I"m not too keen on because Hellboy is rubbish. But back to Goyer... I didn"t enjoy Batman Begins even though with the stellar cast and director it should have be fantastic but the Blade trilogy was mostly very good as was The Crow, but I don"t think we should forget how awful his short-lived TV series Threshold was. Never-the-less Jumper is certainly in the "good" category.
Jamie Bell is certainly the standout performer here and overshadows Christensen in the scenes that they have together, and as always Jackson is fun to watch as "the bad guy". Jumper is a fun film, it"s enjoyable and fast paced and it"ll stir up conversation and debate on the way home from the cinema, but probably not a lot longer.
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play From the director of The Bourne Identity comes Jumper - featuring a host of stars including Hayden Christensen Samuel L Jackson Diane Lane and Jamie Bell! A teenager from an abusive household discovers he can teleport from one place to another He uses this ability to search for the man he believes is responsible for the death of his mother drawing the attention of the NSA and another youth with the same power Actors Hayden Christensen Samuel L Jackson Diane Lane Jamie Bell Rachel Bilson Michael Rooker AnnaSophia Robb Max Thieriot Jesse James Tom Hulce Kristen Stewart Teddy Dunn Barbara Garrick Michael Winther & Massimiliano PazzagliaDirector Doug LimanYear 2008Screen WidescreenLanguages English - Dolby Digital (51)Additional Languages French ; SpanishSubtitles English ; Spanish
Sci-fi action blockbuster with Hayden Christensen as a young man able to teleport himself to any place on earth. After discovering he has a genetic anomaly that allows him to teleport wherever he wants, teenager David Rice (Christensen) embarks on a hedonistic lifestyle of girls, money and travel, indulging his every whim, and using his power to fund his desires. It's not long, however, before he discovers that others share his power, and that the underground community of 'Jumpers' are being targetted by 'Paladins', a group dedicated to their destruction. Pursued by a Paladin named Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), Rice and fellow jumper Griffin (Jamie Bell) soon find themselves fighting for their lives as their sworn enemies close in.
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