{grate 1.5} If you’ve seen “X2: X-Men United,” you’ll remember its
highlight is arguably the first 15 minutes, when a possessed Nightcrawler
teleports through the White House, leaving behind a trail of chaos. If the
scene proved anything, it’s that teleportation is freaking awesome. So you’d
imagine a whole movie dedicated to just that would be equally amazing, right?
Based on Steven Gould’s science fiction novel, “Jumper” is proof that it’s
possible to make teleportation seem like the lamest superpower ever conceived.
The concept: David Rice (Hayden Christensen) is a jumper —
that is, a super-being of sorts with the coveted ability to jump through time
and space at the blink of an eye. Upon discovering his ability, he quickly
starts using it to escape from an abusive childhood and live a life of
extravagance by teleporting to exotic locales and robbing banks. When David
finds himself stuck in the middle of a war between fellow jumpers and the
Paladins — a group of religious zealots who have made it their goal to hunt and
kill jumpers — the responsibility of his powers catch up with him.
“Jumper” desperately wants to be a superhero movie. There’s
even a moment where David alludes to a comic series, “Marvel Team-Up,” paying
tired homage to the graphic novels that inspired the film. But while every
other superhero movie benefits from the established mythos of the actual
superhero, “Jumper” lacks such luxury. Perhaps this also stems from the fact
that the supposed mythology created for the jumpers is never actually fleshed
out. There’s a moment where
(Jamie Bell) a fellow-jumper, casually mentions to David that the war between
jumpers and Paladins extends back to medieval times, alerting the audience to
an underlying history between the warring factions. But as quickly as the
information is introduced, it’s pushed aside. We could’ve had an exciting
back-story about the links between the two groups, but we’re left to imagine
the missing pieces for ourselves — which is unfortunate, since the mythology
proves to be far more interesting than the movie itself.
Another problem with “Jumper” is that it never explicitly
details the teleporting ability that it so heavily relies on.
Specific limitations are never completely addressed; for
instance, there’s a scene when Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), the Paladin gang
leader, breaks into David’s apartments and intercepts all of his jump sites.
Does a jumper need jump sites to teleport? Or can he just teleport anywhere at
any time, on a whim? Because the movie raises questions faster than it can
answer them, we’re never fully sold on the power of the ability and never
completely bought into the concept. Ultimately, we’re left to wonder why the
Paladins even pose such a problem at all.
Liberties with the story also present themselves in the
interaction between the characters. Particularly cringe-worthy are the scenes between
David and Millie (Rachel Bilson), his love interest. Despite an eight-year
separation, both seem content with traveling together the same day they
reunite, without ever questioning the other’s intent. The only genuine moments
between David and Millie occur in the first few minutes, when the awkward
tension still exists. But the genuine feel is lost from then on, and you’re
left to wonder where David’s obsession with Millie actually stems from.
Director Doug Liman has built a reputation on crafting entertaining
action movies, with “The Bourne Identity” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” on his
resume, so it’s all the more depressing that he’s succumbed to what’s
essentially a CW teen drama with convenient teleportations as a hook. It’s only
when the characters shut the fuck up and start using their ass-kicking
teleportation powers that the movie starts to shine. These moments are few and
far between, and we’re left to witness David teleport four feet in front of
himself to open the refrigerator for the majority of the film.
If you still feel the need to watch a movie with
teleportation, pop in a copy of “X2” and
watch the first 15 minutes six times through. Unless you just want to see
Rachel Bilson, in which case you could just buy the latest copy of GQ (it’s more
substantial, anyway).
