Florala

Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: Life

Jump on it- A screenshot of Samuel L. Jackson and Hayden Christensen from Jumper.

Jumper suffers from the Mr. and Mrs. Smith complex: it has a cool core concept that's hard to stretch into two hours.

The idea of a select group of humans who are capable of teleporting anywhere they please is pretty exciting, but most of the plot requires a suspension of disbelief that most people just aren't capable of.

The script is an absolute mess. Samuel L. Jackson's "paladin" character, a member of secret organization that hunts and kills jumpers, is just ridiculous.

It's also hard to identify with the main character, David, since he's a playboy bank thief who cares for nobody but himself, and doesn't really change by the end of the movie.

Plus, there are several plot lines that are unresolved at the end of the movie. To be fair, it's probably because the studio's looking to make a sequel, but leaving holes open is not the way to do it.

The acting's pretty flat, too, even for Jackson. Hayden Christensen's usual high school production performance is in full suck mode, as well­­­- he's even worse here than in Star Wars.

Most of the characters are completely unbelievable, save for a pretty good performance by David's estranged, life-weary father.

The audience is also asked to care about Millie, David's childhood love, but her character is clichéd and boring, and therefore instantly forgettable.

Most of the film is dedicated to exploring what the jumpers' abilities are, although no attempt is made to make us care.

There are some exciting scenarios, particularly in the rare battle scenes with the paladins, and some impressive cinematography when David or his partner, Griffin, jump to a location within the same frame.

One scene has a jumper warp to London, grab a double decker bus, and jump back to the scene of a battle, the bus careening towards Jackson.

Special effects like these are pretty spectacular, but brief, and not enough to hold your attention.

Jumper is pretty shallow, and not the good Michael Bay shallow. It actually tries to be a complicated movie by having multiple conflicts, but it just ends being a little confusing.

It would have been much better to trim a couple of these storylines down, and give us more time to focus on the characters and their story.

It's a real shame, really, because the concept could have been a much better movie in more capable hands.

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