Review of Jumper (2008) by Henrik S — 22 Feb 2014

The basic premise of this film is so good and yet the execution so bad, it is a crying shame. Especially with Samuel L. Jackson in the boat, one could have made this a non-canonical entry in all those superhero films as of late.

But instead of going with the classic superpower origin arc, we are thrown right into the fray and the excitment of discovering one's superpower (excitment for both the character and the viewer mind you) is just pushed off the table without further comment, what a stupid decision.

We want to see how the small town nobody becomes the "jumper" and how he deals with the power, the responsibility, the alienation and the hostility. But none of that is served up during this dish of shambles.

Furthermore, the whole lore and history of the Jumpers vs. the Paladin angle is not thoroughly explored, even though it is hinted that the conflict goes back to the medieval times. If you have the budget to film at the Colosseum and on top of the bloody Sphinx (yes, it is all CGI, I know), why not include some references / scenes / time jumps to the medieval age to give the whole conflict the bearing of something angelical vs.

devlish, instead of a bad moFo chasing after a kid that is out of control. One major problem with cheering for David as our hero is that he just ain't. Unlike Jamie Bell's character (Griffin), who spends his time fighting bad guys from his supercool lair, David just seduces innocent young girls, steals money and goes surfing.

Hell, why wouldnt somebody come around and kick his jumping little ass and why would we care ? There is a scene towards the beginning of the movie, where David watches a newscast about people in distress in a flooded area .

.. he picks up his Umbrella and jumps to London to pick up a bird. Yes, maybe we are supposed to be led into the trap of judging David and considering him an asshole who does not care, only to be surprised by this moral faculties that finally emerge (just like Spiderman took his time to become a hero in the true sense of the word), but, the trap never springs, because David remains a moron way up to the end, where he even starts fighting the true hero (Griffin) just because he wants to do something for every Jumper out there.

The performances are so-so, Sam Jackson does his "thang", Jamie Bell is quite funny, sporting a hardcore Scot accent and being just plain cool, while Christensen holds his pretty face into the camera, Skywalker style - that is - dont move a muscle.

Shame really, because I think he has got more talent, but needs a director that allows him to freewheel a tad more. There is some quota eye candy in there some where (i.e. the female characters) but you can ignore them, it's Hollywood everybody.

The worst thing might even be the ending, which leaves us with a dozen loose ends and open questions. The basic idea is good here but painfully underdevelopd and badly executed, could have been a sleeper hit but not with this crew at the helm, shame.