The story of JUMPER, based on the novel by Steven Gould – thank God, this film is not based on another video game – is centred on 25-year old David Rice (Hayden Christensen).  Discovering the gift of teleportation, David harnesses the power before finding out that through the centuries there exists jumpers and their enemies sworn to kill them.

JUMPER works for director Liman is an excellent storyteller.  This is clearly Liman’s best film though the abrupt ending may annoy audiences and other critics to down rate this movie.  JUMPER has 3 jumps in plot that take the narrative to a higher level.  The first is the appearance of Roland the jumper killer (Samuel L. Jackson) half hour throughout the film.  The second jump is the introduction of fellow jumper, Griffin (BILLY ELLIOT’s Jamie Bell) who teaches and helps David fight Roland.  In the midst of all the action, there is a romance with Millie (Rachel Bilson) that works.  JUMPER plays along the SPIDERMAN series – David learns to control the power; has a romantic fling with girlfriend; uncovers a little dark side – but works more efficiently with the material.

JUMPER has a very human side that distinguishes itself above other action flicks.  This comes from the subplot involving David, his absent mother (Diane Lane) and his father (Michael Rooker) who is unable to reciprocate a son’s love.  The bullying in school when David was 15 also brings in real life issues to the story.  But the above average script by David S. Goya (BATMAN RETURNS) and Jim Uhls (FIGHT CLUB) is mainly full of surprises, even the ending.
Hayden Christensen, who was stoically awful in STAR WARS EPISODE II but surprisingly good in SHATTERED GLASS does well as the troubled David but kudos go the much younger Brit Jamie Bell as the grisly and disturbed Griffin.

JUMPER is also a tale about a superhero who does not use his super powers to do good.  Interesting too would be the examination the social implications of David’s coming-of-age.

At a running time of only 88 minutes, Doug Liman’s (THE BOURNE IDENTITY, GO, SWINGER, MR.AND MRS. SMITH) JUMPER covers a surprising lot of material.  Shot in Rome, Prague, Toronto among other cities with action that is well paced and almost non-stop, JUMPER will undoubtedly please its young target audience used to this kind of entertainment lifestyle.