JUMPER
In theory, the premise of this movie had huge potential. You have your handsome lead (Christensen) with amazing powers of teleportation. You have the evil cult (known as "Paladins") who are bent on capturing and murdering him and anyone like him (people known collectively as "Jumpers"). Then there is the obligatory damsel in distress to rescue (the lovely Ms. Bilson). You have to ask yourself, how could something like that possibly fail? Especially when Doug Liman was at the helm. Here he was given plenty of opportunity for creative action sequences and non-stop excitement, which he excels at (see his last two movies: The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith).
The first glaring problem with the film is that it takes itself too seriously. And a serious film needs a plot to back it up. Sadly the plot was lacking in the extreme. Second, in my opinion, there’s no point making a movie if you can’t populate it with characters worth caring about, which this movie seriously failed to do.
Haydens character (David, the protagonist of the movie) was, in a word, a knob. In essence he was a thief, and a selfish one at that. It is certainly possible to love a rogue, but for that to happen, he must possess some redeeming qualities, which sadly David did not. This made him hard to relate to and impossible to sympathise with.
It didn’t really help that Hayden has all the charisma of a stuffed dead squirrel; cute to look at, but ultimately lifeless and lacking in any kind of charm. I’d also have to call into question his acting ability (not that this movie would be a good indication of such a thing). But his performance is so flat and disinterested that I have to wonder if there’s anything going on behind those cold cold eyes of his.
Samuel L. Jackson plays his nemesis. The problem here is that beyond the “all Jumpers are evil" line, we are given no motivation for his character or the quest of the Paladin order, so it’s hard to love or hate him. If some kind of history had been given to the war between the Jumpers and Paladins, it would have made the plot FAR more substantial. Typically Jackson can be relied upon to make the best of dreadful lines and paper-thin roles, but here he plays it totally straight and delivers not a single laugh or tongue-in-cheek moment.
Rachel Bilson plays the hapless love interest and does her best to invigorate a thankless role. To be fair, she doesn’t move far from the character she’s most well known for on the OC, but at least she brings a spark of life to the proceedings.
What bothered me about her character Millie, was how quickly she fell for and trusted David, a guy who she hadn’t seen or heard from since she was a little girl. The two lacked any kind of connection and the relationship between them was too hurried and contrived.
The film would have been a complete and total waste if not for Jamie Bell. Like the rest, his character of Griffin (First name? Last name? Who cares, the writers sure didn't!) lacks any kind of depth but Jamie does a fantastic job of working with what little he was given. He injects a bit of life and humour into his character and acts everyone else off the screen when he pops up. Sadly, even the smallest bit of background to his situation was quickly swept under the carpet (god forbid we start to FEEL anything for these people).
I must admit, the special effects and the sound effects that accompanied the “jumps” of the title were very impressive and dynamic, but not enough to compensate for a lack of imagination during the films many action scenes.
Overall, this movie was a wasted opportunity and a huge disappointment.
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