Jumper (2008)
Synopsis:
A genetic anomaly allows a young man (Christensen) to teleport himself anywhere. He discovers his gift has existed for centuries and finds himself in a war that has been raging for thousands of years between “Jumpers” like himself and “Paladins”, who have sworn to kill them. Based on the novel by Steven Gould.
Our Thoughts:
While we aren’t big fans of ex-Anakin Hayden Christensen, Jumper looks interesting. While his acting leaves something to be desired, the movie has a couple of other things going for it: a decent premise and Samuel L. Jackson.
While it seems every sci-fi movie now involves a war between two oddly named types (this latest outbreak of this phenomenon probably thanks to the huge success of Underworld (2003)), teleportation has been cool since viewers first saw it in a (most likely) cheesy episode of “Star Trek”. And for this film, these guys can teleport as much as they want, and there are no “transporters” involved! Instead, it’s a genetic anomaly - the wish of every commuter stuck in the seemingly endless day-to-day traffic.
And, following another recent trend (this one attributable to the Harry Potter films), the movie is based on a “young adult” novel, this one by Steven Gould. Having never read the short series of novels by Steven Gould, I couldn’t say whether the story has any sort of depth, or if it’s just going to be another movie with a good premise that tries to overload on special effects to distract audiences from the fact that the plot is incredibly thin.
Since we know Samuel L. Jackson will do his best to cover up any flaws in Hayden’s acting routine, let’s hope it’s more substance than flash.
Otherwise, this may be another xXx (2002), which even Jackson’s acting talents won’t be able to save.
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