Jumper
Tuesday, 12 Feb 2008 11:28
Hayden Christensen can bend the rules in Doug Liman's Jumper.
Directed by Doug Liman, out February 14th in cinemas, starring Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Samuel L Jackson, Rachel Bilson, running time 88 mins.
In a nutshell…
Teleporting-man finds himself witch-hunted.
What's it all about?
Discovering as a teen that he has the ability to teleport (jump) himself from place to place, loner David (Hayden Christensen) decides to rob a bank before running away from his drunkard father, the girl he loves, and general small-town American life.
David then, after seven years of using his power to become a high-flying man of luxury, indulges himself by jumping around the world at a whim. However, all is not as it seems and he soon runs into trouble in the form of Roland (Samuel L Jackson), part of a religious-cult who for centuries have been hunting down and killing jumpers.
On reuniting himself with his high-school love interest and bumping into fellow jumper Griffin (Jamie Bell), David finds himself in a chase to save not just his own life but also that of the girl he loves.
Who's in it?
Hayden Christensen (ie Anakin Skywalker) demonstrates well why he is best suited to the type of high-paced action movies where the dependency on actual acting can be kept to the bare minimum. Yet he does manage to weave a subtly narcissistic performance out of a script that really never offers him too much substance to work with.
Jamie Bell falls back a gear and bumbles through his lines in his native tongue, lost as it is somewhere between Wearside, Los Angeles and Swansea.
By staying in the character of Summer from the OC, Rachel Bilson goes mostly unnoticed, while Samuel L Jackson proves once move how little thought he puts into his roles anymore and acts up the cliched performance that we're accustomed to.
Meanwhile, Doug Liman may be the director behind Swingers and Go but bear in mind his last film was Mr & Mrs Smith.
As an example...
¿Anyone can rob a bank. [beat] What I'd like to know is how you rob a bank without opening any doors." - Roland
¿This conversation's over." - David
[Roland fires an electric charge from a metal stick into David's chest]
¿This conversation's not over until you answer my questions.¿ - Roland
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars?
Despite all the dollars thrown at Jumper, any Oscar chances are non-existent - it even misses a nomination for best visual effects. But there was never the intention here to make a film for the critics, instead this is undeniably something more suited to an audience who care just as much about their choice of popcorn as they do about their choice of film.
What the others say
¿A feisty-looking piece of science fiction.¿ - Channel 4
So is it any good?
From the start you have to appreciate that Jumper is an unashamed action-flick and so comparing it with anything else really isn't fair. However, even with this in mind it is desperately below par, attempting far too hard to make what is ultimately cheesy box-office into a complex and intelligent piece of work.
The script is riddled with cliche and yet, even if you forgive this, the masses of blatant exposition around why and how the plot is unravelling will leave most people feeling patronised. There is no excuse for such clumsiness as David, after his first jump, asking: "Did I just teleport? ¿ Yes, David, yes you did, but thanks for pointing it out anyway.
The film tries too hard when explaining to its audience why the world we watch is both plausible and sensible and ends up failing to keep track of what could really have made a watchable story.
The special effects may impress at points but as far as an actual narrative goes Jumper does what it says on the label and simply skips from plot point to plot point with little regard to filling in the gaps.
2/10
Mat Strowbridge
"Alternate Title: Pants
This film was so bad it practically defied belief. What started out as a storyline involving teleportation and had all the imagination and potential in the world soon got reduced down to the standard high-octane chase and shoot 'em up that has made the US the leading producer of lowest common denominator tripe films it is now infamous for. Throw into the equation a Samuel Jackson typecast in his usual NSA or hero recruiting/chasing role and you have all the ingredients of yet another deja already (sic - Ents Ed) viewed film you wish you hadn't.
The best part of this film for me came after an hour, when I finally couldn't take anymore and teleported myself pronto out of the cinema and into the nearest pub where I proceeded to wash away the taste of this fetid garbage from my palatte." - Peter Christoforou
Agree with this review? Have a different opinion? Let us know your thoughts (without being too abusive to our poor reviewers please) and we'll post the best ones on the site.
Write your comments below: