Jumper has a lot of elements that should add up to a pretty good film. It has an interesting, visually arresting conceit, a pretty talented director with a decent track record, a pretty large budget, and Samuel L. Jackson. Unfortunately, Jumper just doesn’t live up to its potential. While the film is at times unflinchingly cool, Jumper is generally unmemorable.

Teenager David Rice discovers one day that he can teleport. He uses this ability to run away from home. Years later, he lives a life of luxury, jumping all around the world, generally enjoying an excessive existence where he can have anything he wants. This all changes when he’s discovered by Roland, a man who works for an organization dead set on eliminating those with the power to teleport. Soon he and his longtime love are caught up in the secret war of Griffin, a violent and dangerous young jumper against the organization that seeks to take them all down.

The concept is solid. The execution is pretty suspect. There are three writers on this film, a general indication that the final script was more a product of corporate guidance rather than any sort of storytelling integrity. This lack of editorial cohesiveness manifests as the plethora of plot holes and script weaknesses that one has come to expect from these blockbuster films. Honestly, most of the weakness can be ignored in favor of pure visual enjoyment. What’s harder to ignore are the scenes that were stuck in with no story purpose whatsoever. For example, there is a car sequence in the middle of this film where the characters drive recklessly around Tokyo for absolutely no reason whatsoever. It was like a car chase, except they weren’t chasing anybody. It seemed like they wrote that scene in just so they can advertise a shiny new Mercedes convertible.

The filmmaking is pretty solid. There are a few sequences where it’s pretty hard to follow what’s going on, but otherwise, it gets the job done. The main attractions of the film are the locations. The film tries to carry the audience through a whirlwind of exotic locales, from Tokyo to Rome to Egypt, and truth be told, it’s pretty impressive at times. The “jumping” mechanic is pretty well done, and there are some sequences here that are unabashedly cool.

Hayden Christensen isn’t ready to carry a film by himself. One can see the effort that he puts into his acting, but the talent just doesn’t seem to be there yet. His performance is passable, but a better actor could’ve made us forget the weakness of the script. The weakness of his performance is made even more glaring by the strong performances from the supporting cast. Rachel Bilson is really revealing herself to be an actress to watch. Jamie Bell oozes charisma, and makes audiences root for him over Christensen. Samuel L. Jackson is Samuel L. Jackson.

Jumper is what it is. Despite the script problems and the weakness of the lead actor, it’s makes for decent popcorn viewing, mostly thanks to the strength of the supporting cast. The film could have been much more, though, and it’s a shame to see it falter.

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"I love this Movie, as i watch it im imagining myself as a "Jumper" too, this is great guys i recommend this Movie and rated as #1" :)

Hayden Is Anywhere, Instantly...