Jumper

The concept of teleporting seemed appealing to me, a huge fan of Heros. When I saw Doug Liman was Directing this film, I figured it had to be good. After all, Liman Directed The Bourne Ultimatum. I was sorely disappointed in this film. They squandered infinite potential on a wishy-washy story with bland characters that were easily forgotten. I won't give it a recommendation, either. It's strictly a push for me. NOTE: This review will reveal minor details regarding plot.

I wish I had read the 1992 book by Steven Gould, that this movie was based on. I imagine that the book was far better than the screenplay. My biggest problem with the writing is that there was absolutely no character development. It seems like they glossed over interpersonal relationships for flash and bang. That was a huge mistake. If you don't care about the characters in a movie, how are you supposed to care where the movie is going? In this case, the movie went nowhere. These characters were about the most one-dimensional characters I can recall seeing. I really didn't care which, if any of them, were killed off in a movie. And that includes the main character. He's a thief and he discards his relationships easily. When the characters are not believable, nothing else works. A little bit of character development may have saved this movie. A few of the "twists" in this movie were weak, too.

The acting wasn't really bad. But how should I rate the acting given the fact that I didn't care for the characters they played? Even the best actor can't overcome a weak script. This script was water-thin. The cast had Samuel L. Jackson playing the Arch-Villain. It should have been destined to be good. Now Jackson is certainly a seasoned veteran actor. I'm surprised he didn't run when he read the script. Jackson was actually good, even if the material didn't showcase his abilities. Hayden Christensen just wasn't believable to me in the lead role in this movie. I don't really think it was his acting though. I don't believe he would have made it into the Star Wars movies if he didn't have talent. Rachel Bilson was simply forgettable. There were no redeeming qualities in her performance. I think the cast might have gotten better marks if they had something to work with, but they didn't. I can't help that any of them chose to do this movie. They were all mediocre at best.

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