Jumper Review

Jumper-Poster-BigThanks 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.

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47 thoughts on “Jumper Review

  1. “I was totally blown away by the trailer especially the music from a company called two steps from hell but the actual film was a complete letdown.” — agree that it had that Judgement Day feel of amazing effects and potential amazing storyline, that didn’t fully surface in the film.

    In fact, I just finished watching Jumper. It is no where near as bad as some said…in fact the visuals and logic flow were pretty solid. They really did explore the various facets of the superpower. What he did with the power is what I would do…both morally and in terms of exploiting it to the max.

    I am curious how David, our lead, was able not to go flinging off into space when teleporting. After we are spinning at at least a km per second.

    It was funny to see Bella (Kristen Stewart) answer the door in her cameo. She plays the disconnected, huffy teen to a tee.

  2. dear Mkfreak2

    the movie is cool and sorry that u did not like it but face it u have no taste when coming to movies so i say next time do not watch any movies.

  3. First av all I agree on the majority of the comments on this site, the movie sucked big time.

    Now secondly. Was I the only one who strongly reacted to the news cast that he saw in his apartment??? They mention something about a flood and that it would require a miracle for the victims to be saved. At the time hayden (David) just laughs a little and walks away. Now i thought that was an obvious giveaway to how the story would end. BUT, turns out, he just keeps on going with his egocentric way of using his “power”.

    Not to be a wiseass, but wouldn’t my ending, although a bit cliché , actually be better than this sucky one?

  4. This movie is so very lame.I actually wasted my time watching such a crap just expecting that something might happen.There was no story line,no actual romance and not even a good action scene.
    I would give it a 4 on 10…….just for the girl(Rachel Bilson).

  5. The film would have been awesome… WITHOUT the “love story”
    That bit totally ruined the rest because it was pretty damn unbelievable and annoying.
    Otherwise: Awesome idea, GREAT effects, good actors.

  6. “A cross between the Matrix and Bourne” the adverts promised us!! They must have been talking about another movie cos what seemed liked a great idea for a film was systematically ruined from start to end I cant believe i wasted my money and valuable time watching this rubbish, the plot was basic, obvious and full of lame cliches the story was very thin with little depth for any character! I mean other then Jamie Bell i really couldn’t care less whether they all died! Hayden Christian’s acting was awful and Samuel L Jackson should be ashamed of himself The only thing good about the ending was that it was the end and i could leave the cinema which was silent (in disgust probably!) I wouldn’t even pay £2 to the dodgy dvd sellers for this pile of shit!!

  7. Hey I thought it was good. Liked the flashing effect and yea Hayden’s acting was kinda awful really. I’d give this film 4.2 out of 5 if you ask me.

    I wish I could have their teleportation power lol.

  8. I read the book! Then, I read the screenplay for the movie. I read someone was hired to rewrite the script. Why? The book was WOW! I will still see the movie, but I may cause myself to say, “Nope! Didn’t happen, Not even close.” throughout this entire movie. We will see.

  9. This movie was absolute horse crap, what a waste of fucking money this was, i kcik myself for wasting not only my hard earned money, but the slowest hour and a half of my LIFE. Holy dumb fuck, this movie was by far the worst, sorry exscuse for a hollywood title in years, avoid at all costs!

  10. http://thebigbadfilmreview.blogspot.com/

    Alternate Title: Pants

    This film was so bad it practically defied belief. What started out as a story line involving teleportation and had all the imagination and potential in the world soon got reduced down to the standard high octane chase and shoot ’em up that has made the US the leading producer of lowest common denominator tripe films it is now infamous for. Throw into the equation a Samuel Jackson typecast in his usual NSA or hero recruiting/chasing role and you have all the ingredients of yet another deja already viewed films you wish you hadn’t.

    The best part of this film for me came after an hour, when I finally couldn’t take anymore and teleported myself pronto out of the cinema and into the nearest pub where I proceeded to wash away the taste of this fetid garbage from my palatte.

  11. Gotta say I agree with most of the above comments.I was totally blown away by the trailer especially the music from a company called two steps from hell but the actual film was a complete letdown.It had so much potential but was letdown by the script ,Hayden and Rachel poor acting and a lack of storytelling.People don’t realise how important they story and script should be.What really got my nerves is that if anyone had this power of course financial gain would come first and we would travel the world endlessly but after that what else would you do?Maybe you would save peoples lives ,the government might track you down and ask you to work for them doing questionable things which leaves you in a dilema .The film was an example of people dealing with a the super hero genre who have no clue how to deal with it .They would do well to watch spiderman 1 & 2 and I quote”with great power comes great responsibility.” I felt spiderman 2 really hit this on the head.The film had great action sequences but the story was king.Peter parker struggling with what to do with his power his doubts , his fears this is what we can all really can relate to. Jumper told us everything from the beginning which really annoyed me,no build up just straight to it.Also if any one revealed to you that they could teleport you would be freaked out but rachel bilson behaved as if this was just another every day thing .The superhero reveal in comics is a big thing here it was brushed over in a matter of minutes.The only good thing about this movie was Jamie Bell,he was the best character in the film.To sum up I had repeat some thing that the last person commented on

    “The special effects and exotic locales are great, but they cannot make up for the massive plot holes in the script.”

    I could not agree more

  12. They were so busy setting this movie up for a sequel that they compromise the whole film. Sam Jackson looked like he was only there for the paycheque, and Rachel Bilson was horrible. My cat can act better than she can. Hayden Christensen had his moments. I agree with Cynda that he is no worse an actor than some other established actors (remember Kevin Costner in “Robin Hood” and Tom Cruise in “Interview with the Vampire”, anyone??). Jamie Bell is really enjoyable to watch.
    The special effects and exotic locales are great, but they cannot make up for the massive plot holes in the script.

  13. I guess, I am posting this comment out of desperation.

    If someone would have posted a huge sign in front of the theater that said “this movie sucks”, I would have still gone t see it. Loved the premise, a guy that can be anywhere anytime he wants…
    But that is just it, the movie was the trailer extended for 1hr 30min, no acting, no interest… if all of them died at the end I would have not felt anything, (maybe relief that there would not be a sequel) they did not give me any personal background or showed me any feelings or depth to like them by.
    It’s interesting to see that a good idea with lots of marketing, can make more money than good acting and a great story development.
    It seems like the director did it on purpose from what I read…
    Thank you for making me realize how worthless it is to spend $10 to watch a marketing heavy movie…

  14. 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?

  15. 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

  16. 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.

  17. 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.

  18. 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).

  19. 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.

  20. 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

  21. 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.

  22. 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#$%!

  23. 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.

  24. 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.

  25. 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.

  26. 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.

  27. 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.

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