David is a Jumper who can teleport himself anywhere in the world, which creates a fun and exciting life. But things turn deadly when David finds himself pursued by a secret organization sworn to kill Jumpers. Forming an uneasy alliance with another Jumper he becomes a player in a war that has been raging for thousands of years.
As preposterous action movies go, Jumper is pleasantly unpretentious and breezily entertaining. A young man named David (Hayden Christensen) discovers he has the power to teleport (or "jump") anywhere he can visualize. After using this power to steal and make a comfortable life for himself, he pursues the girl he longed for in school (Rachel Bilson, The O. C.). But as he does so, another jumper (Jamie Bell, Billy Elliot) and a pack of fanatical jumper-hunters called paladins (led by a white-haired Samuel L. Jackson) crashes into David's freewheeling life. Jumper wastes no time trying to explain how jumping works or delving into the hows and whys of the paladins; this is an alluring fantasy of power directed at a pell-mell pace by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Go). There's a brief moment when it feels like the movie will bog down in romance and vague gestures towards character development--happily, that's the moment when Bell appears and the whole movie shifts into overdrive. You might wish that Bell and Christensen had swapped roles; Bell has a far more engaging personality, and Christensen's bland good looks might better suit a more aggressive character. Nonetheless, Jumper has oodles of dynamism and nifty visual effects to propel its comic-book storyline forward. A variety of recognizable actors in bit parts (such as Diane Lane and Kristen Stewart, Panic Room) suggest that the filmmakers are laying the groundwork for sequels. Based on a critically-acclaimed science-fiction novel by Steven Gould. --Bret Fetzer
Beyond Jumper
More from Steven Gould
The Jumper Soundtrack
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Stills from Jumper
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
Might'z Well Jump! I received Jumper from Netflix when it first came out on DVD in the summer of 2008...but I never watched it; after it sat for a week or so I just returned it because I was never compelled to spend the 90 minutes watching a movie that got average at best reviews. Well I finally had the chance to watch it on HBO last night...and it was good! With a talented director like Doug Liman and the awesome David S. Goyer involved, I knew that Jumper would be good...I just knew it. The OC's Rachel Bilson adds... more info
JUMPER ENDS UP A ...DUMPER! 2 1/4 STARS! OK, OK, I know this is just another preposterous action sci-fi film, but for such an interesting premise to end up going nowhere, I have to say watch this on cable or maybe a cheap rental. The film is fast paced, but for a film that clocks in at under an hour and a half, it felt very long. This might have played better as a TV episode of some random sci-fi series. The film does say a lot about our society though as with such an amazing and powerful gift, all these lunkheads could think to do is rob... more info
At Least Fun This is a fun big budget special effects action movie. As far as a compelling story...well it has promised, but it is incomplete in many ways. There is a lot of story to tell. A kid whose mother long abandoned him and a father who drinks too much discovers he has this amazing ability to jump to places around the world. You have the girlfriend he wants along with a bully and it makes for an interesting story beginning. But the movie rockets past all that to get to the action. The action is good, as are the... more info
You in or out!!! jumper is one those movies that you can look at forever. the way their abilities were utilized to how cool hayden christensen was this is great movie that anybody would love.