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Jumper (2008)

Posted on 28 May 2008

ReviewColumn's rating :
3 stars

Jumper (2008) A select few of humanity have the ability to bend space and time, enabling them to teleport instantly to any part of the world, due to a rare genetic anomaly. A young man, David Rice, discovers that he has this 'gift' and learns to make use of this ability to lead 'the high life'. This 'gift' eventually turns out to be a 'curse' and he becomes embroiled in a generations-old conflict between 'Jumpers' like himself and the 'Paladins', who have sworn to hunt the Jumpers down to extinction.

Jumper (2008) is a science-fiction movie to be slated for release on 14th February 2008, starring Hayden Christensen (of Star Wars fame), Samuel L. Jackson and Rachel Bilson. This movie is the on-screen adaptation of the science-fiction novel of the same name by Steven Gould.

David Rice (played by Hayden Christensen) discovers that he possesses the power to instantly teleport to anywhere that he has seen, thus the tagline 'Anywhere is possible'. He makes use of his power to rob banks without getting caught, leading a privileged and affluent life. However, his life takes a turn for the worse after encountering Roland Cox, head of a shadowy religious sect called the Paladins. Paladins are trained zealots who have sworn to eliminate Jumpers who possess powers that only God should have exclusive access to. Along the way, he meets Griffin (Jamie Bell), a much more experienced but wayward Jumper who enlightens him on the conflict between Jumpers and Paladins. During this dark hour for David, he manages to reunite with his high school sweetheart Millie (Rachel Bilson) and they go onto this adventure together.

As seen from the trailers cinematic released earlier, Jumper promised some spectacular computer-generated (CG) scenes and it made good on this promise. The Jump scenes are thrilling; it does induce that adrenaline-pumping sensation while watching, accompanied by the familiar whoosh. Even without the CG scenes, the locations where the movie was shot (like Egypt) boasted some spectacular natural scenery and Jumper manages to capture some.

I felt that this concept was a rather creative one, but the storyline was much of a letdown. There was little explanation on the background of the Jumpers, nor the causal factors for the hatred between them and the Paladins. Hayden Christensen improved on his acting in Star Wars but his character still seemed boring. In contrast, Jamie Bell delivered a much more riveting performance as the brooding, wayward Jumper Griffin. Rachel Bilson puts in a decent performance as Millie, which does not speak for a lot since her character lacks depth in the show. The best actor in this film, undoubtedly, is Samuel L. Jackson. We do not often see him as the 'big bad guy' but he plays this ruthless role to near brilliance, so well that the audience might find his murderous actions forgivable, as he seems so adamant that he is doing the right thing.

What intrigued me more was actually the Paladin sect instead of the Jumpers. Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing revealed about the Paladins. This shadowy sect is so shadowy that you will not even know anything about it after the movie. Also, it is quite peculiar that a seemingly religious sect would wantonly slaughter innocents just to hunt down their adversaries.

Jumper (2008) is not short on creativity but lacked depth. Even with an above-average cast and an experienced director, this storyline fails to sparkle. This movie is not a disaster, but it is not something that people will remember two weeks after watching it. It gave me the feeling that it was aiming to accomplish a grand task but falling short of its objectives. Champagne ambitions are usually difficult to fulfill with a beer budget.

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