"Jumper" Review: Beautiful Film That Misses Some Marks

Jumper Review And Trailer

I gave Jumper three out of five stars because of the character interaction, and for lack of a better phrase, a few plot holes. Overall, I did like the film, and chose to review it because of Samuel J. Jackson portraying the villain. He’s a favorite villain in many of the movies I like.

The location shots were definitely amazing, and the pace of the film was fast enough. (Word is that the locations came from 20 different cities and 14 countries.) Directed by Doug Liman (Mr. And Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Ultimatum), this film was adapted from the novel, Jumper, by Steven Gould.

Young David, (Max Thieriot)a high school student who you’d love to pick on, suddenly finds that he can teleport himself after a freak accident after school.

The relationship between David and his estranged father was to me, a bit of a gloss, meaning that his parents (particularly his father) were put there as David’s reason for being a bit of a loser. David’s father, played by Michael Rooker, was more than a bit rough around the edges, and seemed to be a typical abusive dad.

David (Hayden Christensen) leaves home, and becomes a teleporting slacker, transporting from one exotic locale to the next (Egypt, London, etc.) All he seems to have to show for this amazing power is a wall full of photos, and money he’s stolen…I mean err… teleported from banks. I would have thought David would use his ability for good, or at least spend some time learning to be more stealthy on his bank heists.

Things start to happen when a group led by Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Roland, gets a lead on David’s location. David, (who should have spent more time in the library he accidentally transported into), is blind-sided in his first confrontation with Roland, who represents a group that hunts teleporters. Jackson’s Roland was a bit distracting in this film, from the mannerisms to the hair.

At this point, David does the dumbest thing he could ever do, which is go back home and get involved again with his long lost heartthrob, Millie. Soon, she is caught in between the conflict of David and his hunters.

There are some fight scenes, and the visual effects are stunning and make use of a lot of motion blurred images. The character interaction, particularly between David and his girlfriend, portrayed by Rachel Bilson (The O.C.), was a bit boring. She seemed like the typical girlfriend.

There was never a true sense of the relationship between David and his father, nor why David seemed to be drifting through his life. I believe what we are to draw from this film is that David spent a good part of his life feeling miserable, between being picked on at school, and his home life, and that his ability makes him feel free for the first time.

The film ended with a lot of loose ends, that I assume will be tied up in a sequel. Jumper also stars Jamie Bell, Diane Lane, and AnnaSophia Robb.