Jumper (www.the-usher.com)

"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.

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2008