Plot greatest leap for ‘Jumper’

While it’s a far stretch from the last science fiction movie actors Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson did together, the book-to-film adaptation of Steven Gould’s “Jumper” rises to the occasion with action but fails with the plot.

Considering “Jumper” was directed by Doug Liman, director of “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” certain expectations were present before the first weekend was over. It had an amazing trailer, outstanding special effects and enough hype to swarm the box office. It is unfortunate whenever a story with such great potential was taken down several notches for the sake of a shallow Hollywood thriller. And it all starts within 10 minutes of the opening credits.

Teenage protagonist David Rice (Christensen) possesses the unique and dramatic ability of instant teleportation called “jumping,” running away from his abusive father. In doing so, the naive and inexperienced David discovers freedom in the form of endless international pleasure.

Christensen gives a splendid performance, unlike a few of his counterparts, even when being forced to deliver awkward scenes and corny lines. The character himself is not only likeable — he’s enviable with his charm, skill and sarcasm.

The same can be said of Agent Roland (Jackson), the bad guy whose life mission is to kill all jumpers. Having set his crosshairs on David, Roland charges into the spotlight in one of the opening scenes, brutally attacking David and stalking him for the rest of the film with a hard glare and a huge dagger. Roland is a ruthlessly determined villain that is scary and entertaining at the same time.

After David exposes his secret to impress his childhood crush, Millie (Rachel Bilson), disaster follows. Agent Roland hunts him down and declares war on him and jumper rival, Griffin (Jamie Bell), a rebel who risks his life to save David’s. Griffin is a brilliant and nerdy veteran as well as a funny character that doesn’t get enough attention to give the storyline some needed purpose.

A huge pitfall for the movie was how little time was put into David’s family. While the cause and effect of almost every move he makes in the book, David’s family is merely touched upon but ultimately pushed to the side. The movie only gives glimpses of his father, and his mother presents this extremely lacking side story that does nothing profound for David and his bigger problems with Griffin and Agent Roland. If it weren’t for Christensen’s charisma, it’d be hard to care about David as a hero at all.

“Jumper,” for all intents and purposes may feel packed to the seams with action sequences, but functions like a shot from an energy drink. It rides high on the concept and special effects, which is wonderful and dazzling while it’s happening. However it dissolves slowly when it tries to inject any amount of substance. This is mostly the fault of little to no rising action and a jumbled afterthought of a back story. The climax of the ultimate battle between David and Roland is brought on too soon and “Jumper” ends with too many unanswered questions.

David and the rest of the “Jumper” universe had the chance to bring life to a tale that was profound and wildly entertaining in the novel. Like an adrenaline rush, it excites for a short amount of time, only to stop to admire its own adventure.

Rating: Four out of five stars.