SYNOPSIS: The science fiction thriller leaps into a new realm with JUMPER, which begins the epic adventures of a man who discovers that he possesses the exhilarating ability to instantly teleport anywhere in the world he can imagine. From New York to Tokyo, from the ruins of Rome to the heart of the Saharan Desert, anywhere is possible for David Rice (HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN), until he begins to see that his freedom is not total, that he's not alone . . . but part of an ongoing, global war that threatens the very survival of his rare and extraordinary kind.

REVIEW: Talk about hyping up a movie, this one was hyped, pushed, promoted, and heavily advertised. So one of your first questions might be, “is it worth the hype?” Well, it is debatable, but I think it comes very close. If you really think about it, there haven’t been too many movies recently that do live up to its hype, so why should this one? (Did I just say that?) Even though it falls slightly short, it is a good movie. The special effects are extraordinary, the storyline is okay, the acting is just good enough, and the cinematography, well, when they say “anywhere is possible” they’re not kidding. I had some qualms with the concept though. Being a fan of the X-Men series, when I heard of this movie my first reaction was that they are ripping off the Nightcrawler character in X2. A jumper is a teleporter just like Nightcrawler. In this case, however, a jumper is a lot more powerful. Nightcrawler can only teleport short distances while a jumper can teleport to anywhere in the world that they focus on, near or far instantly. Needless to say, I quickly got over my qualm. This is way more cool!

“Take a deep breath . . .” and prepare for a great ride. The best aspect of this film is the eye-popping special effects. That combined with the various locations that the jumpers jump to adds to the visual marvel of this motion picture. From Asia to Europe to Africa to Ann Arbor, Michigan, anywhere is possible. Your travel dreams can come true in an instant with a jumper. In the case of a jumper by the name of David Rice (Hayden Christensen), his financial dreams also come true. Discovering his “ability” at the age of 15, he begins to travel the path of selfishness. He is rich but unfulfilled, harmless to others but still a criminal . . . or is he? At some moments you might question whether he is a good guy or a bad guy. Enter Roland (Samuel Jackson), a hunter of jumpers, and your categorizing of good guy/bad guy becomes a little easier. Hayden has the look for playing “a good guy and bad guy at the same time” role but how well does he perform it? Based on this movie and the Star Wars series, eh, nothing to write home about. You can always count on Mr. Jackson to do a good job and he does. The white hair though, eh, a little over the top. Jamie Bell as Griffin, a fellow jumper that runs into David and David goes to for answers, performed with more intensity than Hayden. Rachel Bilson as Millie, David’s life-long crush, is a looker and her acting is up to par with Hayden (which is not saying much). It would have been nice to see a little more of Diane Lane though (yeah, she’s in the movie).

All the characters in this film are underdeveloped. Same goes for the script. Some of the lines are too elementary when it should have been a little more intellectual. This helps degrade the actors’ performances, but luckily the visual aspects helped enhance them. The flow of the story is bumpy at best which is not too surprising considering the subject matter . . . the story flow jumps like a jumper. Director Doug Liman previously directed two of my favorite movies; Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity. Although this project is not as good, it is still worthy of recognition. So guys, after taking your girl to see Definitely Maybe on Valentine’s Day, you follow up with having your girl take you to see Jumper the following weekend. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Movie Review By Cine Marcos 
cinemarcos@smartcine.com

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