Jumper [Blu-ray] [2008]

Jumper is a film that works because of its simplicity rather try and weave together numerous sub-plots that end up going no-where. It feels very much like a pilot for a TV show that you actually want to keep watching to see what happens next. Admittedly the story is paper thin but it moves at such a pace it's difficult to care. The chemistry is good between Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson and feels natural.

The real star however, is Jamie Bell. He is very charismatic and he brings the film to life every time he is on screen. His accent is very strange though, and seems to be constantly changing. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but it doesn't really matter. Some of the action scenes are breathtaking and the "jump" looks fantastic every time you see it.

Overall this is a mindless action film that feels like the start of something much bigger. There is no doubt that a sequel could flesh out the characters and provide a genuinely interesting film. If you prefer films with numerous plot strands then steer clear as this will bore you to tears. If however you want to see a popcorn film, then this is a must see.

I have to say I don't enjoy these types of movies usually, all the superhero stuff wasn't my bag as a kid, I just didn't grow up with comic books. I rented this because I thought it would be rather cool, with a lot of time travel, and I have to say I'm pretty lukewarm about it.

David is a jumper, he can move from one place to another without moving himself. He discovered this talent when he nearly died on the river trying to save a present he'd bought for his lover Millie. When he discovers he can jump; he decides to take off as everyone thinks he's dead, and does bad deeds like rob banks, but when a jumper hunter comes after him, he soon realises his powers are not that good after all.

This isn't a bad film, I just felt it was a bit limited in scope. I did enjoy Samuel L Jackson's role as the jumper hunter, he really did a good job, but I felt the rest of the cast were not as emotive, and lacked that kick this movie should have got. The action scenes are amazing and the filming of David in Egypt were amazing, and looked really fine on Blu-Ray disk.

The blu-ray is a dream - excellent selection of extras and the film is even audio described, which is a real bonus. The audio is uncompressed DTS which is nice too. I was really impressed with the amount of documentaries on here, and the menu is rather cool. This will keep you entertained for around 5hrs, so set some time aside, because you will want to see the documentaries.

3/5 for the film, 5/5 for the transfer and 5/5 for the extras.

Lets hope more studios take note!

For the generation that won't wait for anything, the teleporting protagonists of Jumper may have more appeal than the likes of Spiderman and Wolverine. If you skip ads, sneak a peek at the last chapter of a book, have ever wanted to fast forward through a boring flight, or truncate the dull commute to work, it may be your fantasies that Hayden Christensen is living in Bourne director Doug Liman's globe-trotting sci-fi outing. Not content with such mundane shortcuts, gadabout Christensen is disposed to good living - financed by teleporting away the contents of bank - in a New York penthouse; he breakfasts on top of the Sphinx, checks out London from the clock-face of Big Ben before going on the pull, and flits in and out of a series of holiday hot-spot locations that resemble a fast flick through a travel-agent's plushest brochure. But one day jumper-hunter Samuel L. Jackson - wearing the daftest hairpiece since Morgan Freeman impersonated R. Lee Ermey in Dreamcatcher - is waiting for him with a wake-up call. Jackson is a Paladin, a sect that has been hunting those Godless teleporters since at least the middle-ages, though the invention of electricity has given them the ability to pin the fidgety globetrotters down while they run them through with a nasty hunting-knife.

Jumper had a lot of potential and it was a frustrating film. It's beautifully shot, with an intriguing premise, and a great performance from Samuel L. Jackson. Unfortunately, it's also got some cringe worthy dialog, distractingly large plot holes, and a zero charisma female lead in Rachel Bilson. The film looks great, featuring some jaw-dropping location photography, but the plot is a hodgepodge of underdeveloped elements. Diane Lane gets third billing for about five minutes of screen time in a throwaway role with absolutely no payoff. Jamie Bell, easily the best of the cast aside from Jackson, crafts a far more interesting character than lead Hayden Christensen, yet the script (credited to three different writers) regulates him to little more than a plot device. Worst of all is Rachel Bilson's character, who seems like an afterthought at best. The script's paper-thin characterization forces her to flesh out her role with sheer charisma, and, unlike Jackson, she's just not up to it.

There are moments, more than a few, in fact, where Jumper gets it right. The opening sequence, leading up to Christensen's character's discovery of his powers it spot-on, as are just about every one of Jackson's scenes, but these only serve to build false hope. This is a movie in search of an identity. Is it a super-hero movie? A romance? A sci-fi epic? Jumper feels like a movie made by a committee hell-bent on creating a franchise and that, ultimately, proves to be its undoing. Much as Jackson's character is fond of saying that no man should be all places at all times; no movie should be all things to all people. Bottom Line: Jumper is an unfortunate mess of a movie that wastes some beautiful photography and a great performance by Samuel L. Jackson.