An entertaining but worryingly flat attempt at a brilliantly simple concept. Liman reinvented the spy movie with The Bourne Identity, shame he can’t do the same for this highly grounded an unimpressive sci-fi drama. Bilson and Bell make the best out of a dry script while Christensen fades into the background with a far from charismatic performance.
It’s almost very good, and with impressive on sight location and effects who’s to say it shouldn’t have been good. A more script oriented approach would have been a better experience since this is in fact a interesting concept. Nonsense, but interesting nonsense.
Based on the novel by Steven Gould, Jumper concerns David (Hayden Christensen), a young man who quite literally wills himself away from his grim family life by teleporting to another place with the power of his mind.
Years later, David is using his powers to raid bank vaults, seduce girls in London, lunch on the pyramids, and surf in Fiji. But he soon discovers that he is not the only one bestowed with this unique gift, and all is not well in the world of jumpers. There are people out there such as Roland (Samuel L. Jackson) who view jumpers as a threat to all mankind, and have made it their mission in life to eliminate them. After jumping back to Michigan to get reacquainted with his long lost love Millie (Rachel Bilson) David makes the acquaintance of experienced jumper Griffin (Jamie Bell). Informed by Griffin of a secret between jumpers and a shadowy group that seeks to destroy them, the pair soon finds themselves facing off against a legion of murderous opponents who won't stop fighting until every last jumper has been eliminated. It sounds far more exciting that it actually is.
Jumper will find itself jumping straight into the barging bin. The future doesn’t look too bright for its sequels either. Of course a two star movie still has its good points. A truly memorable performance from Billie Elliot’s (Jamie Bell) who has a worryingly strong British accent. The same praise for acting can also go to The O.C (Rachel Bilson) who proves to be far more sophisticated than your average girl next door.
Shame that our lead can conjure up enough Charisma to even become noticeable, he has virtually no on screen chemistry with Bilson meaning their relationship status is never really fully exercised. Bell provides enough charisma and charm to make up for the lacking Christensen but even that isn’t enough to save this franchise starter from being the pits.
There are times when Jumper seems like the perfect blockbuster. Entertaining nonsense it is. But a memorable one? No! It best scenes fade from memory like a puff of smoke and with virtually no plot to rest on its up to the actors to wield something out of this.
