Jumper Review
Thanks for checking out our Jumper review, be sure to check our video review at the bottom of the page!
The General Idea
David Rice (Hayden Christensen) finds out that he possess the power of teleportation and uses it to set out on his own and live a life of privilege and excitement. Life begins to change when a religious sect of paladin hunters headed by (Samuel Jackson) discover his whereabouts and begin the task of tracking him down. David then uses this difficult time to reunite with his grade school crush Millie (Rachel Bilson). An alliance is made with the more experienced jumper Griffin (Jamie Bell) to fight the paladins so they can live again without worry.
The Good
Teleporting is awesome, and the location shots in this film were incredible. They really did a fantastic job with one super-power and when it was in use, the film was very enjoyable. We get to wonder what we would do if we were in their shoes, and most of us would do a number of things these “jumpers” have checked off on their list. The ability to span the globe with a thought is a delightful fantasy, and this film really sold us on the benefits of that power.
When David and Griffin finally hook up, the camaraderie is fantastic and the movie really takes a turn for the better. This is the relationship the film should have focused on; sadly this was not the case. At one point David says that the two of them should join forces like in Marvel Team Up - Griffin smirks and responds well to the comic book reference. The more experienced Griffin also gets David up to speed on stories of other jumpers and the dangers of the paladin hunters that seek to kill them.
The paladins (as headed by Samuel Jackson) are an order of righteous religious zealots bent on killing all with powers only god should possess. They are hunter/warriors with modern gadgetry designed to take out jumpers and prove themselves to be worthy adversaries. Campea was saddened that we never dug into their background, and I agree with him. We are given glancing descriptions of them and their order without a shot of their secret location, rich history and dusty tomes. This was a missed opportunity.
Jamie Bell ruled as Griffin. This character was the best part of the film and Mr. Bell should be very pleased with his performance..
The Bad
This movie starts off with a long voice over that is completely unnecessary. If we just had a chance to watch what was being shown, we would be able to “figure it out,” but instead we have overdubs explaining the obvious. We don’t have voice over for the rest of the film - which is good, and also strange.
The love interest in this film is horrible. It drags the film to a screeching halt on a number of occasions and is never believable. They dive headlong into coupledom and on their first date Millie gives David the gears like they were married for 6 years. No one would put up with this shit. If this was to be a believable story, he would of ditched her ass in a New York minute. When you are on the first date and someone is too nosy and annoying - you run, or in this case teleport! Millie is an insanely annoying character and asks question after question after question. I kept praying for “Questions McGee” to die (but sadly this does not happen).
This movie ends horribly, I obviously cannot tell you what happens - but it isn’t good. All the problems Millie had evaporate in a flash; without cause or reason this annoying nag becomes understanding and behaves as cool as a cucumber. The film sets itself up for a sequel in a manner that is far too obvious with hooks that do not sink in one bit. If you know you have a sequel planned - you better make people hunger for another at the end of the film, this certainly did not happen here.
Overall
I found this movie to be extremely frustrating. It was such a good idea and certainly had some awesome parts to it. If they changed some things around and removed a character or two, it could have been fantastic. The potential was there; it just didn’t turn out right. I felt bad for the film as a guidance counsellor may feel bad for a wayward teen that does not fully realize the consequences a poor decisions can make. I do not think I would recommend this film, and give it a 4 out of 10.
1. nicola-t replies at 15th February 2008, 3:56 am :
Hmm… interesting, somehow I still want to see it though… but then again I am fascinated by bad films… is it even worth seeing for the effects?
2. Shane replies at 15th February 2008, 6:16 am :
I disagree completely about the need to delve more into the mythology and the larger ‘world’ the film is based in, and felt it was a strong point.
I was glad to just get to enjoy THIS story, without being subjected to long, rambling explanations that add nothing to the narrative. The Palladin’s are the bad guys, they want to try kill all the jumpers. I got it, we can move on. I don’t see how stopping the film dead in it’s tracks to explain all this would have helped.
I agree however that the ‘love story’ aspect was ass.
3. Mkfreak2 replies at 15th February 2008, 6:37 am :
I thought the movie was absolutely HORRIBLE. Just…terrible. Nothing makes sense, the ending is terrible, it’s too short, the plot and characters all suck, the acting is plain shit, and just the entire mythos and scope of the film never sinks in. It’s juts complete fucking shit.
4. arnique replies at 15th February 2008, 6:47 am :
Totally totally agree. Not only was it too short and sans wit for the most part, it was not as much an action-adventure movie as Valentine’s day fluff with some out-of-place action scenes. Someone should just create a montage out of the fight scenes and Jamie Bell bits. Not even Hayden Christensen could save this flick. Very, very disappointed I am.
5. miles replies at 15th February 2008, 7:02 am :
i was so into the trailer until morgan freeman showed up with a magic lasso.
then i thought it was retarded.
6. Rodney replies at 15th February 2008, 7:27 am :
The REAL question is…. did you see John Campea in the background?
7. ouija replies at 15th February 2008, 7:28 am :
Wow! Morgan Freeman sure has developed a “bad ass” attitude lately! /sarcasm
8. emilyk replies at 15th February 2008, 8:54 am :
question:
what other movies has Hayden Christensen actually been good in? The only one that comes to mind for me is “Life As a House”. Everything else I’ve seen him in, he’s been terrible. Especially “Factory Girl” where he’s playing Bob Dylan. (They never say the character’s name is Dylan, but we all know it is). “Jumper” just looks like another one to add to the list.
9. jacky replies at 15th February 2008, 9:11 am :
are you guys reviewing Step Up 2 the Streets? I’m dying to hear what you think of that one.
10. Robert(wolf) replies at 15th February 2008, 9:23 am :
EMILYK-Check out Shattered Glass, Hayden is awesome in it.
I’m still looking forward to Jumper, I feel sad you guys didn’t enjoy it.
11. CastleKnight replies at 15th February 2008, 9:36 am :
Just got back from seeing this film and I think you guys are totally right about how frustrating this movie was. I was surprised that loads of people were saying this was going to be a brilliant film. The trailer was rubbish and most of the casting news was pretty bad. And I thought it was a lot better than I expected, but still not that good a film. They could have done so much more with what was a killer idea.
I was looking out for Campea throughout the whole film but wasn’t quite sure which scene he was in. Samuel L was amazing, as always.
12. Royal replies at 15th February 2008, 9:45 am :
I thought this movie was excellent! No tedious, long, drawn out explanations of how and why jumpers can jump. The movie set up the premise in the first 15 minutes and then the action started and didn’t stop until the very end. And it’s a great ending for a sequel! BTW, I liked the love story.
The only black eye on the movie-going experience was when my wife and I returned to our car to find someone had keyed the passenger side door. F#$%!
13. Jay replies at 15th February 2008, 10:31 am :
I had great expectation, as this was from Doug Liman, but is a huge letdown from what I hear.
Easily his least impressive work to date.
14. Meli replies at 15th February 2008, 11:10 am :
I was really looking forward to this movie, but now I’m not so sure I will spend the money to see it in the theaters. I think I’ll save my dollars and wait for DVD. From the sounds of it, it won’t take long to get there, lol.
15. Michael replies at 15th February 2008, 11:37 am :
Just so you know John, as for the background history on the palidins and the jumpers. There is going to be a series of comic books coming out. I read half of one on the jumper official website, that just reading that elevated the movie experience. This movie was a total hollywood setup of a franchise. “Comics, games, and future sequels” The author of the book that this movie was based on even wrote a speacial book for this movie called griffin’s story
16. Cynda replies at 15th February 2008, 4:50 pm :
I am looking forward to this movie. I think Hayden Christiansen is a fine actor. I think people just get caught up in the hype of the Star Wars movies, etc. and want to disapprove of his performances in movies. They want a reason to share their opinions that quite frankly, are probably not even their own. Geez. Give the guy a break already. He is no worse an actor than a lot of other established actors out there who dump there own personalities into ALL their roles. Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise and many many more.
17. Mike replies at 15th February 2008, 9:00 pm :
Transformers seemed to do the love story very well, while still being a kick ass movie! It could be possible that the movie makers were trying to recreate this! (speculation).
18. Jen replies at 16th February 2008, 8:28 am :
Does Sam Jackson die in the movie? Thinking about going to see it, but will not if Sam dies? Thanks guys.
19. fritzilla replies at 17th February 2008, 12:47 pm :
I saw the movie yesterday and had no expectations. In fact we went to see Cloverfield but that movie had been switched to the barely bigger than my big screen screen. So we were bummed and decided to see Jumper in the truly big screen.
I have to say, the movie was pretty good. I understand a lot of the criticism, but then most of that could be said about any super hero movie or pretty much any action movie.
The love story was fine. In fact I understand the motives of both characters. Hayden could get any girl, they established that. But that made it even more believable that he would pine over his childhood love interest (presumably the one woman he couldn’t get lest he risk it all type thing). So he’s been dreaming about some day seeing her again. Having almost been caught, and put in a stressful situation, it compells him to go back to her, a comfortable place in his heart. For her, she ends up stuck in the small town, she had dreams, and when he returns and swoops her off her feet by offering to go to the one place she really dreamed of, Rome, well, I can see it.
As far as her asking questions, HELLO, that was PERFECTLY understandalbe. In fact I always hate it when in movies where something obviously crazy is happening and those around it just wait paiently to watch the supernatural stuff happen. No, I would be just like her, and be asking, “what the F is going on?”
The action and effects were good.
It was a little light on the explanation of the history. I didn’t like that although I understand some of the posters saying it would slow the plot down, which can be boring. I liked how Underworld did the history by giving glimpses of memories. Anyway, I think the big let down was giving us some insight into the motivations of the Paladins.
20. Mr.Death replies at 17th February 2008, 1:34 pm :
Saw this last night. My god, it was terrible. Don’t see it. It sucks.
21. jacky replies at 17th February 2008, 5:02 pm :
please review Step UP 2 the Streets, it’s the #2 movie in America for goodness sakes. I understand you guys focus a lot on Sci-fi action flicks on themovieblog, but not reviewing the #2 movie in America is just stupid. Even more impressive was the Step Up 2 earned an average gross that was higher than Jumper even when playing in 1000 less theaters, and it had a much smaller promotion budget probably. Unlike Jumper which had commercials in almost all the TV shows.
22. Mini-G replies at 17th February 2008, 5:12 pm :
Wow. this movie… BLOWS!! this is the worst movie i have seen since Spiderman 3 and i would have chosen spiderman 3 over this movie, Heck I have taken dumps that i would rather stare at for 120 mins
23. Drewbacca replies at 17th February 2008, 8:58 pm :
I quite liked the vagueness of the history and how anything could happen or be explained in follow-up films. Right now they’re focussing on THIS story and explaining what’s going on now while just trying to be entertaining. You guys completely overlooked the family history element and other side stories in this movie. How the parents fit in (specifically his mother), Kristin Stewart is in this movie too…. a larger part in upcoming films? I love all the questions it sets up for us. Great ending.
@Jen (#18) - After Campea’s huge post on spoilers, are you being serious or trying to appear retarded?