Jumper - DVD Review

JUMPER (**) - Starring Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Michael Rooker and Diane Lane.
Directed by Doug Liman.

This is a very dumbed-down version of The Bourne Identity, except instead of being an amnesiac assassin, he's a punk who can teleport. My understanding is that the book is much better. That it's based on a book makes this more disappointing, since they must have cut out and changed a lot. A lot.

Hayden Christensen, whose acting isn't getting better in big-budget fare, is a guy who finds he can teleport anywhere. He uses his power to rob banks and sight-see. Eventually Samuel L. Jackson shows up as our villain. We're told he's a paladin, a religious zealot, part of an order that hunts and kills jumpers, because only God should have that power. And that's the extent of the explanation of motivation.

There are some cool action sequences and some dumb choices by the leads. Why jump ten feet away from danger when you can jump ten miles away from danger?

Then it gets to where the ending should be. You know those movies that end and feel like it's just a set-up for the sequel, like how Back to the Future II was an excuse to get to Back to the Future III? Due to what happens in the third act, which is very little, it feels like the whole movie is just set up for Jumper 2. And as John McCain might say, "That, my friends, is lame."