Not so much a ‘jumper’
If I were given a hundred million dollars to budget a film, I think I could’ve balanced a price like that a little more evenly between a bunch of quirky special effects and teenage drama. I don’t know what director Doug Liman thought he was doing with such a large budget, but with low visual and emotional quality, along with just 88 minutes of reel time, he’ll need a lot more than just a bunch of advertisement-drawn consumers to redeem this one. With any luck, he’ll probably get off on the high price of tickets these days.
When David Rice (Hayden Christensen) learns of a genetic power that enables him to transport, or in this case, teleport himself anywhere he wishes, it seems like a cool gift for any young man (especially if they’re looking to reunite with a former crush, Rachel Bilson), but when a fellow “jumper” (Jamie Bell) informs him of the centuries old war that has raged on between jumpers and paladins, it is up to David and his friends to band together and defeat an evil paladin leader (Samuel L. Jackson) who has sworn to destroy all jumpers.
Being the Star Wars geek that I am, it has always puzzled me how Harrison Ford could be the only star to really get a career launch from his supporting days in the galaxy, while all the leads went practically nowhere, and unfortunately, the same thing is happening to another young Skywalker. Hayden Christensen can turn to the dark side for anyone’s benefit all he wants and garner plenty of thumbs, but staying awake during an operation (‘Awake’), or using a fantasy gift that enables him to have lunch in Egypt and dinner in Rome on the same day, I can’t say that anyone other than George Lucas did any favors for this kid.
From reprising the bad man Shaft to sporting a ridiculous purple light saber, Samuel L. Jackson has just about done everything possible as far as getting into character in Hollywood, but to see him with hair dyed as white as snow, I just about died. He may have done similar characters before, but this is certainly a look that his fans will either love or hate, but laugh at either way. I guess I should just be glad there weren’t any snakes crawling through the snow this time (“Snakes on a Plane” and “Black Snake Moan” in the same year … how ironic).
Doug Liman may have found some moderate success when he was at the helm of “The Bourne Identity,” or “Mr. And Mrs. Smith,” but something about the way he guides this mixed cast of young and olds is really just a jumbled mess. The plot comes off really vague and childish, and then carries itself out to practically nothing, other than a bunch of random teleportations to scenic locations, and an easy opening for sequels, which could either redeem or bury this over hyped saga all together.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Feb 15 2008. Filed under Features.
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