The disappointments and the inexplicable plot turns kept mounting until I finally surrendered and just admitted it: This was just a goodlooking clunker.
Jumper (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:1
Rotten:33
Average Rating:3.7/10
Consensus: Featuring uninvolving characters and loose narrative, Jumper is an erratic action pic with little coherence and lackluster special effects.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sequences of intense action violence, some language and brief sexuality.
Runtime: 90 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Theatrical Release:Feb 14, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $80,055,499
Synopsis: Based on Steven Gould's critically acclaimed novel, JUMPER leaps onto the screen courtesy of director Doug Liman. David (Hayden Christiansen) has inexplicably been given the power to teleport... Based on Steven Gould's critically acclaimed novel, JUMPER leaps onto the screen courtesy of director Doug Liman. David (Hayden Christiansen) has inexplicably been given the power to teleport himself, or jump. He can jump into a bank vault, then to the top of the Sphinx, then back to his luxury Manhattan apartment. But despite all his power, he still misses his childhood love, Millie (Rachel Bilson, THE O.C.). When the opportunity arises, David jets off to Rome with Millie, but it's not all romance in the Italian city. David's unique abilities place him in the middle of a war between the jumpers and the paladins, a secretive group intent on hunting down the teleporters. Led by Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), the paladins track David and fellow jumper Griffin (Jamie Bell) across the world, and Millie may be caught in the crossfire. JUMPER moves as fast as its teleporting hero, condensing the novel into a slim, action-packed offering. The slick special effects and impressive locations are certainly on par with Liman's previous work in THE BOURNE IDENTITY and MR. AND MRS. SMITH, but JUMPER bears a closer resemblance to comic book adaptations. Like Spider-man and most other costume-clad protagonists with unearthly abilities, David grapples with his newfound talents. But unlike his tights-and-cape-wearing brethren, David doesn't use his ability for the greater good. Instead, it gets him piles of money and, perhaps, the girl he's been dreaming of since he was five years old. Though most action films are driven by the struggle between good and evil, JUMPER interestingly offers up a central character who lies somewhere in the middle. Slightly less ambiguous is the film's ending that leaves the option for a sequel completely open. [More]
Starring: Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Samuel L. Jackson
Starring: Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Lane, Michael Rooker, AnnaSophia Robb, Max Thierot
Director: Doug Liman
Director: Doug Liman
Screenwriter: David S. Goyer, Jim Uhls, Simon Kinberg
Producer: Arnon Milchan, Lucas Foster, Jay Sanders, Simon Kinberg
Composer: John Powell
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Reviews for Jumper
One day, I feel sure, the rich mantle of charisma will descend upon [Hayden Christensen], but Jumper is not that occasion.
Jumper, based on the novel by Steven Gould, re-defines -- downward -- the notion of dreadful. It does so by dispensing with everything a movie needs for a shot at being merely awful.
Like so many other CGI behemoths, this dull action fantasy ultimately squashes rather than inspires one's sense of wonder.
The only force on Earth so dense that it apparently can't be moved even by the movie's special effects is Christensen's wooden acting.
A movie so silly you may find yourself giggling helplessly even as you wish you could magically transport yourself almost anywhere else in the world but where you are, in front of the screen showing it.
Is there something innately vexing about a story whose premise opens the door so wide, to so many geographical possibilities? Jumper, the film, goes everywhere and nowhere.
Though dazzled by its ultra-modern wizardry and the high gloss of its production values, one can also feel the globalist double standard roiling underneath the adolescent-kid fantasy plot.
I can’t see people lining up for a sequel -- unless Samuel Jackson’s hair grows out and marches on Tokyo.
Given its uninvolving story, uninteresting characters and the presence of half-man/half-tree Hayden Christensen, the movie is wholly dependent on special effects, which I rate only so-so.
Doug Liman's Jumper takes an intriguing premise -- a guy who can teleport himself anywhere, anytime -- and turns it into a totally ridiculous and incoherent sci-fi adventure.
Jumper is a barely coherent genre mishmash about a guy who transports himself across the globe at will.
Adapted from Steven Gould's young-adult novel, Liman's tale of the bookish high-schooler with unusual powers isn't a shot of adrenaline, it's an OD.
It took three screenwriters to turn Steven Gould's novel into an unholy mess.
Short on imagination and anchored by a wan hero, Jumper is a flight of fancy that never fully takes off.
It's that rare genre picture targeted to teens and young adults that suffers from underkill.
Logic takes the greatest leap in Jumper, a sci-fi thriller that plays like a frog jacked on steroids.
It's positioned as the first installment of a trilogy and, if Christensen follows through on the character's promise of greater charisma and depth, I'll willingly line up for the next two.
Jumper seems half-done -- a long prologue building to a classic hero's journey or the launch of an antihero -- but comes to a screeching halt before it can begin either.
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