JUMPER

Starring:
Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, AnnaSophia Robb, Michael Rooker, Diane Lane and Samuel L. Jackson

Director:
Doug Liman

Running Time:
90 mins

Out to buy on Blu-Ray/DVD 16/06/08

"There are always consequences"

When fifteen year-old David Rice (Christensen) discovers he has a power to teleport himself to anyway in the world, he decides to leave his old life behind and take advantage of his new ability. Eight years later, he is living a dream life, travelling anywhere in the world instantaneously and stealing money from banks around the world to live his extravagant lifestyle. With great power comes great consequences and David's activities have been noticed.

The ability to transport yourself to anywhere in the world is a dream for everyone but can 'Jumper' make this dream a reality?

Director Doug Liman returns again to the action genre after scoring box office hits with 'The Bourne Identity' and 'Mr and Mrs Smith' but this time he tries to inject a little piece of science fiction into the proceedings. The problem is however that while his characters have the ability to transport themselves anywhere in the world, instantaneously, the director and his creative time have forgotten to transport in the most important element, a plot.

Based around a simple idea that 'Jumpers', people who can teleport are fighting a war against 'Paladins', who believe that only God should have the power to be everywhere at once, it is the execution of this premise that really lets the movie down. While the notion of people throughout the ages have the genetic anomaly that gives them the power to teleport is nothing new in science fiction and superhero movies, 'Jumper' had the chance to utilise the advances in visual effects to push the premise to its limits but in doing so they forget to concentrate on the story. Plotlines are introduced and not concluded, characters introduced and not fleshed out and the history of the jumpers and paladins never really explained. Instead they use the film simply as an introduction to a much bigger story, one that could be fleshed out in a number of sequels, forgetting that if the first movie isn't a success, and then there won't be anything to follow.

The performances jump all over the place as well. After the critical battering he gained for his performances in 'Star Wars Episodes II and III', you'd have thought that Hayden Christensen wouldn't have been given another chance but as David Rice he tries to show that he can be an action hero but unfortunately he just continues to reveal what a poor actor he really is. Using the same tortured soul persona he 'perfected' in that galaxy far, far away, he creates a character that isn't heroic enough to support this lead role, again. Fortunately he has some decent support to save him… again. Jamie Bell is a much better actor and he proves it with a good show as Griffin, the more experienced but extremely bitter jumper who wants to take the fight to the Paladins. Rachel Bilson also continues to make the transition from TV to the big screen with ease as love interest Millie but she needs to find more challenging roles. Samuel L. Jackson sports a strange blonde haircut as Roland, the head Paladin after David and Griffin. This is a role that he can play in his sleep but he does make a good villain. There are also some underdeveloped and underused roles for Michael Rooker and Diane Lane, making you feel they are wasted in the movie.

'Jumper' is an exciting premise that is poorly executed. Exciting special effects and action sequences that take the jumpers all over the world do not make a movie and really on the fact that this could be a potential franchise is the movie's real downfall. With Hayden Christensen proving that he can't really act and the plot completely losing itself by going one jump to far, this is a sci-fi movie that misses its landing.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Widescreen 2.35:1 Anamorphic with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the transfer is good.

BONUS FEATURES

Commentary by director Doug Liman, writer/producer Simon Kinberg and producer Lucas Foster
The director, writer and producer of 'Jumper' come together to provide a chatty, technical commentary about the movie. The three colleagues talk about adapting the book, the changes they made and the introduction of new characters. They cover all of the key scenes, talking about the locations and how this is not a big VFX movie but one that uses the visuals to enhance the story. This is an interesting listen.

Jumpstart: David's story animated graphic novel (8.01 mins)
Watch the character of David (Christensen) try and solve the mystery of his missing mother, as an animated, narrated comic book.

Jumping around the world (10.55 mins)
Director Doug Liman, writer/producer Simon Kinberg, production designer Oliver Scholl and stars Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell and Rachel Bilson talk about the many locations of 'Jump'. Here we go behind the scenes of the shots at New York, Toronto, Egypt, Tokyo, Rome, Paris, Mexico, Prague and Louisiana and see the production travel around the world.

Doug Liman's Jumper: Exposed (35.37 mins)
Director Doug Liman, producer Lucas Foster, writer/producer Simon Kinberg and stars Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell and Samuel L. Jackson take you behind the scenes of the making of 'Jumper'. The B-Roll footage takes you around the world as the director talks about the production of the movie.

Making an actor Jump (7.35 mins)
Director Doug Liman, producer Lucas Foster, visual effects supervisor Joel Hynek and stars Hayden Christensen and Jamie Bell show you how they made the Jumper's jump all over the world.

Jumping from novel to film: The Past, Present and Future of Jumper (8.07 mins)
Director Doug Liman, producer Lucas Foster, Steven Gould (Author: Jumper, Reflex, Jumper: Griffin's Story), writer/producer Simon Kinberg and stars Hayden Christensen and Jamie Bell talk about adapting the novel, the changes that were made and how they mapped out a trilogy.

Deleted Scenes (11.12 mins)
Entitled 'Inadvertent jumps', 'Alternate Roland intro', 'Tokyo and the machine', 'David hides from Roland', 'Taxi to airport-Rome' and 'Epilogue War', these deleted and extended scenes suffer from the lack of a commentary or introduction to reveal why they were removed.

PreViz: Future Concept (4.29 mins)
Watch the PreViz, the computer animated storyboard for the Griffin and David fight.

OVERALL

The DVD treatment for 'Jumper' is one that fans will enjoy. The featurettes are very good and the commentary track tells you everything you need to know about the film. This is a very good treatment for fans of 'Jumper'.

DVD

Mr & Mrs Smith


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