Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #195 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-06-16
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Colour, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 84 minutes

Amazon.com
As preposterous action movies go, Jumper is pleasantly unpretentious and breezily entertaining. A young man named David (Hayden Christensen) discovers he has the power to teleport (or "jump") anywhere he can visualize. After using this power to steal and make a comfortable life for himself, he pursues the girl he longed for in school (Rachel Bilson, The O. C.). But as he does so, another jumper (Jamie Bell, Billy Elliot) and a pack of fanatical jumper-hunters called paladins (led by a white-haired Samuel L. Jackson) crashes into David's freewheeling life. Jumper wastes no time trying to explain how jumping works or delving into the hows and whys of the paladins; this is an alluring fantasy of power directed at a pell-mell pace by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Go). There's a brief moment when it feels like the movie will bog down in romance and vague gestures towards character development--happily, that's the moment when Bell appears and the whole movie shifts into overdrive. You might wish that Bell and Christensen had swapped roles; Bell has a far more engaging personality, and Christensen's bland good looks might better suit a more aggressive character. Nonetheless, Jumper has oodles of dynamism and nifty visual effects to propel its comic-book storyline forward. A variety of recognizable actors in bit parts (such as Diane Lane and Kristen Stewart, Panic Room) suggest that the filmmakers are laying the groundwork for sequels. Based on a critically-acclaimed science-fiction novel by Steven Gould. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

Synopsis
Based on Steven Gould's critically acclaimed novel, JUMPER leaps onto the screen courtesy of director Doug Liman. David (Hayden Christiansen, STAR WARS – EPISODE 3 – REVENGE OF THE SITH) 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 most comic book 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.

Customer Reviews

Promises much but delivers little
A young man discovers that he has the ability to teleport and uses his ability to rob banks and move from place to place in the wink of an eye....

I thought this film was going to be a great movie. The first half of the film promises to deliver the makings of a great film but sadly it fails to deliver anything significant and ends up with a lot of computer graphics coupled with plenty of crashes and bangs. For my money I would have preferred a more conceptual approach about the power he has and the threat he poses to the established order.

Im sure that if anyone ever developed such talents they would be ruthlessly squashed or coerced in some way towards advancing the aims and intents of greedy businesses or corrupt governments.

Instead we end up with a superficial film with a school kid feel to it. If they have sequel to this film - hopefully it will be better.

Disappointing
Sci-fi thriller about a young man who discovers that he has the ability to teleport instantly to anywhere on the planet and what he does with this ability, especially when he discovers that he is not the only one with this ability and that there are people out there who are sworn to kill `jumpers' like him. I found this to be an intriguing premise and the film was a fairly exciting ride with excellent special effects and Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson starring together in a film for the first time since Star Wars Episodes II and III. However the film was badly let down because by the end too many loose ends had been left untied, which is a real shame as this could easily have been a very good movie. (Maybe there will be a sequel?) Ultimately disappointing. (Note: this film also stars The O.C.'s Rachel Bilson as main character Hayden Christensen's love interest.)

Fantastic special effects and a novel storyline make this a surprisingly enjoyable sci-fi
David (played by Hayden Christensen) is what's known as a 'Jumper', someone who at their own free will can teleport themselves literally anywhere in the world. As well as being able to travel anywhere at any time, David's jumping skills have also made him very rich as one of the first uses he found for his talent was to teleport into bank vaults then teleport back to his apartment, taking all the vault's money with him.

But all is not quite as it seems for David when a character called Roland turns up at his apartment, reveals he's been searching for David for 8 years, and then tries to kill him. David escapes, baffled by the attack, but this is only the beginning of his problems as Roland embarks on a fanatical pursuit of David and will stop at nothing to find and kill him. For Roland is leader of the 'Paladins', a group of religious extremists who regard Jumpers as abominations who should not be allowed to have the kind of power that only God should have.

And so begins an action-packed chase all over the world as David jumps from location to location frantically trying to evade his pursuers. Along the way he teams up with a fellow Jumper called Griffin, an enigmatic character who explains to David why the Paladins want all Jumpers dead, as well as the nature of what Jumping actually is.

The action sequences in this film are both spectacular and imaginative, with the whole concept of 'jumping' being superbly showcased. Some of the action is a real sight to behold, with David and Griffin's high speed car race around Tokyo, teleporting through all the traffic, being particularly memorable. The battles with the Paladins are also incredible, with David and Griffin using every ounce of their jumping abilities to thwart the relentless Paladins.

One criticism that seems to crop up in a number of reviews is that the characters in this film lack depth. Whilst I agree that Hayden Christensen's acting still borders on the wrong side of wooden at times, the film is very much action-driven, not character-driven, and deep and meaningful character development would not be appropriate for a film like this. Another criticism of the film is that the story is too thin and there's not enough back-story to Jumpers and the Paladins. But why is this necessary? There's no real reason why people are born with the ability to Jump, it just happens, that's all you need to know. Likewise the Paladins, why embellish the story with a detailed description of the origin of the Paladins, turning a fun 90 minute film into some 2½ hour pseudo-epic, it would be counter-productive.

This is an adrenalin-filled action sci-fi that takes a very imaginative concept and turns it into a gripping and exhilarating film, definitely worth checking out.