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Jumper (2008)

Average rating

(61%)

Starring:	Hayden Christensen \| Samuel L. Jackson \| Diane Lane \| Jamie Bell \| Rachel Bilson \| Tom Hulce \| Michael Rooker \| Sean Baek
Director:	Doug Liman
Studio:	20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time:	85 mins
Genres:	Audio Descriptive \| Sci-Fi/Fantasy \| Thriller
Languages:	English, English Audio Description
Hearing-impaired:	English
Released:	June 16, 2008
Also available on:

Based on Steven Gould's critically acclaimed novel, JUMPER leaps onto the screen courtesy of director Doug Liman. David (Hayden Christiansen, STAR WARS - EPISODE 3 - REVENGE OF THE SITH) has inexplicably been given the power to teleport himself, or jump. He can jump into a bank vault, then to the top of the Sphinx, then back to his luxury Manhattan apartment. But despite all his power, he still misses his childhood love, Millie (Rachel Bilson, THE O.C.). When the opportunity arises, David jets off to Rome with Millie, but it's not all romance in the Italian city. David's unique abilities place him in the middle of a war between the jumpers and the paladins, a secretive group intent on hunting down the teleporters. Led by Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), the paladins track David and fellow jumper Griffin (Jamie Bell) across the world, and Millie may be caught in the crossfire.
JUMPER moves as fast as its teleporting hero, condensing the novel into a slim, action-packed offering. The slick special effects and impressive locations are certainly on par with Liman's previous work in THE BOURNE IDENTITY and MR. AND MRS. SMITH, but JUMPER bears a closer resemblance to comic book adaptations. Like most comic book protagonists with unearthly abilities, David grapples with his newfound talents. But unlike his tights-and-cape-wearing brethren, David doesn't use his ability for the greater good. Instead, it gets him piles of money and, perhaps, the girl he's been dreaming of since he was five years old. Though most action films are driven by the struggle between good and evil, JUMPER interestingly offers up a central character who lies somewhere in the middle.

Screenshots

Highest rated reviews

113 out of 114 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 3 stars
Missed opportunity

Meako from , 11th February, 2008

A film with a decent concept, but which fails to deliver its potential. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what doesn't quite work in the film, as it isn't a bad film - just slightly above average. Some failings in the casting department don't help the film much, with Jamie Bell being terribly miscast (he isn't eccentric enough for the unstable character he is trying to play), and Rachael Bilson as Mille is just seriously lacking in any ability to act. The story, forgive the pun, jumps around too much and there is a feeling that quite a chunk of the film is missing as it simply doesn't feel like a complete movie. Perhaps the intention is for this to be the start of a franchise, but if so they have done a bad job of making me excited for the future. The action is reasonable well handled, but the dialogue scenes seem flat and forced, filled with plot exposition to ham-fistedly move the tale along. This is all the more confusing when you consider that Doug Liman (the director) was responsible for great dialogue infused films such as Swingers and Go, and also delivered the best (in my opinion) of the Bourne films. Hayden Christensen at least shows some ability that never surfaced in the terrible Star Wars prequels, but is not exciting enough a lead to keep us interested. The overall feel is a muddled film that doesn't quite know what it wants to be, and leaves you a bit unphased and underwhelmed by anything that goes on in the film. Not a bad film, but a far cry from what it should have been.

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43 out of 43 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 3 stars
Now You See Him ~ Now You Don't

JanetandJohn from from Desford, Leicestershire, 16th February, 2008

IT'S ABOUT: A chase across the earth where our young jumper instantly transports himself to wherever he wants. PLOT: A young American guy finds he can go to any place he chooses, at once. Clearly this gives him big advantages over the rest of us but some folks do not like this and thus our hero has troubles. ACTING: In what is almost a teen movie, it is played lightly and we like the good guys and we really don't care much for Samuel L. Jackson as the baddy KEY FEATURES: Huge fun in the way of chases, crushes and stunts . VERDICT: Enjoyable nonsense ~ see it once and forget it ~ pure cinema!

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27 out of 27 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 2 stars
Plot, what plot?

nutcase from , 19th February, 2008

I remember reading that the Lara Croft movies were made with as little plot as possible and therefore supposed to be 'Postmodern'. Jumper, too. Though as to whether the move from middle of the film to the end and the closing credits in about 2 minutes is deliberate is hard to guess. This is simply unambitious and a waste of money - both makers and viewers. I do not know what part of it we are supposed to like. The scenery - been done before. The acting - adequate at best. The story - see above. The characterisation - limited and unappealing. The editing - aah, actually quite good. So; see the film if you like a well edited movie. Me, I wanted my money back.

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24 out of 24 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 1 stars
Another good book spoilt

pant from from Staines, 28th February, 2008

Before I start I must say that Jumper is one of my all time favourite books. So this review is coloured by that. WHY! The original story from the book is about the boy and his ability and how he comes to use. Its cleaver, deep and disturbing in places and asks the reader questions. Its a book I have read at least five times and it always keeps me entertained. Now the movie. Christensen, how can this 'actor' appear in such major films. The man has no charisma. The love angle in this film is as believable as the one in SW I&II&III. SLJ and Jaime Bell do reasonably good work, without the latter, I may have walked out. All the depth found in the book was removed and replaced with Hollywood flash. By the middle of the film constant pointless jumps and camera trickery was just annoying, yes you had a very large travel budget. So what. This film is about as deep as a dry puddle. As for the WAR, why? Hardly a war was it. Not much more than a witch hunt really. Also, there are core parts of the film that just don't work. You know that the people trying to hurt you have certain technologies, plan for it. A grenade would have solved the problem (you'll have to see the film to know what I mean there). The whole war would last about 10 mins. As for the chase scene... All in all, I left the cinema fuming at a the waste of a good story, and reducing it to this travel montage.

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Most recent reviews

*** May contain spoilers ***

Rated 0 stars
Jump into a great big cowpat

A Customer from At the top of the Sphinx, 14th February, 2010

Jumper is a missed opportunity. It is a good idea squandered. The whole idea/motivation of Samuel Jackson's character didn't make sense to me. He (apparently) hunts 'jumpers' because of a religious belief that 'only God should have that power.' This is only very briefly explained and made nonsensical when he then employs techniques such as following Jumpers through their jump 'scars', and using machinery to keep those wormholes open. Hypocritical, surely? If he was a one-dimensional I'm-from-a-shadowy-Govt-Dept-and-I-want-to-exploit -your-talent-for-military-purposes type of character I could have bought that. But a one-dimensional I'm-an-unexplained-religious-nut type of character (like that dude from Contact) just invites you to wonder why he is bothering at all. Hayden and Bell are ok but I would liked to have seen more of them chasing each other all over the planet (literally). If it was just non stop thrills and chases that would have been ok, but we spend too long with characters we don't care about because we don't know what motivates them, nor do we ever find out. I suggest you jump your mum instead, it's more fun - I know.

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