Jumper

Twenty minutes into Jumper, you will most likely be ready to leap out of the nearest window. On the bright side, the lack of narrative logic in this film is so distracting that you might not notice Hayden Christensen’s monotone acting and Doug Liman’s less than competent directing. Oddly, the fact that David Rice (Hayden Christensen) has the ability to magically transport himself around the world in the blink of an eye is the most logical thing about this film. But, like many of the character motivations and plot holes, the magical "jumping” ability is left unexplained. David begins the story as an awkward kid harassed by the type of school bullies that only exist in the imaginations of home-schooled, socially isolated nerds. At home, he is verbally abused by his alcoholic father. Then David discovers his magical ability to "jump” from one place to another and uses his new-found power to escape his domestic situation, rob a bank and begin a new life far away from his problems. The story skips ahead eight unexplained years, when David’s identity is discovered by a group of Jumper hunters known as the Paladin. David goes on the run and reconnects with his childhood sweetheart, Millie Harris (Rachel Bilson), who drops everything and runs off to Rome with the stranger from her past. Soon, the Paladin, led by Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), the man with the world’s most distracting hair, are hunting David and Millie across the world in a haphazard and illogical manner that results in many pretty special effects. If you do decide to brave the tangled mess that is Jumper, you will no doubt wonder how such a confused piece of filmmaking could ever come to pass, thankfully the DVD special features answer that question. In one of the most candid and honest "behind the scenes” segments I have ever seen, the cast and crew of Jumper explain, often through false grins, how director Doug Liman continuously altered the script during filming and how he didn’t seem to know what the movie was about from one day to the next. Most of the actors couch their insults in complimentary language, though Scottish actor Jamie Bell is much less flattering in his assessment of Liman’s talents and unprofessional behaviour, making no secret of his frustration. There is also a short animated storyboard of the original script that’s completely different from the final film and, despite the fact that it is very much a test concept, is a much more interesting story. Fans of the original novel by Steven Gould will absolutely hate this movie. Fans of science fiction will be horrified by the absurdity of the script. Everyone else will promptly return this DVD to the video store and forget it ever existed.