Jumper - Doug Liman (2008)

I find a certain sense of irony in that, despite 'Jumper' focusing on the exploits of a boy being able to teleport, the film itself doesn't actually go anywhere and if anything, felt like an overblown 90-minute trailer for a sequel coming to a screen near you (depending on Box Office results of course...).

David Rice (Hayden Christensen), believes he's a normal boy, who get's on with trials and tribulations of modern teenage life in his own manner, until a tragic accident allows him to realise he has the ability to 'teleport' himself anywhere he can visualize in the world. Cue, over-blown, CGI-laden, scenes involving David jumping to various famous spots around the world; most notably enjoying the cool, summer-breeze on top of the pyramids in Egypt. Which are to say, impressive visuals at times.

However beauty doesn't account for everything. From there on we are introduced to Samuel L Jackson (Roland), an important member of the Paladins, a society of members gauged around stopping and killing any and every 'jumper' they come across. However little is released about the on-going 'war' between the Jumpers and the Paladins and leaves many questions open to the viewers ambiguity; mainly when did they start this witch-hunt and most importantly why? While the romantic sub-plot between David and Millie (Rachel Bilson), never really gets moving despite taking up a large part of the film itself, especially since there is more spark and electricity in a plank of wood than their relationship.

And to top the shambolic nature of the narrative (or lack of), a script that had been adapted, changed, marooned and mutilated that many times away from it's original source, that the final result is an incredibly dumb-down script containing a mighty amount cliché’s you except in any film today with a budget primarily focused on visual entertainment.

Jumper, had an interesting premise, and initially promise, however the film lacks any narrative drive, is poorly written and contains very little character development, but what can you except from just over a measly eighty-minutes of film? Jumper is nothing more than an extended trailer, for the inevitable Jumper 2.