Jumper
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence, some language and brief sexuality.
reviewed by Christopher Lyon
Director Doug Liman's new film "Jumper" might be the best-advertised film of the year so far. It feels like I've been seeing commercials for this thing for three months. That's about two months more hype than this digital eye candy can hope to deliver on.
The Story
At age 15, David Rice discovers he can teleport himself from one spot to another just by thinking about it. After using the unexplainable new power to escape life with high school bullies, an abusive dad, and an absent mom, David figures out how to set himself up by robbing banks.
Jump forward a few years, and we find David (Hayden Christensen) all grown up and living a luxurious lifestyle in New York City when he's not jumping around the globe for fun and profit. We follow him to London where he picks up a blonde in a bar, spends the night with her, and then heads to Fiji to do some surfing before returning home for the evening in New York.
But then David gets noticed by Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), the leader of a group called the paladin. Their mission since the Middle Ages is to track and kill jumpers like David using electricity to immobilize them and a big, ceremonial knife to do them in. "No one but God should have the power to be everywhere," Roland growls. David retreats home to Ann Arbor, Michigan, which exposes his dad and his childhood sweetheart Millie (Rachel Bilson) to the paladin.
After sweeping Millie off her feet with a trip to Rome, David must find a way to protect her from the bad guys. He gets some help from another jumper named Griffin (Jamie Bell), who has made it his mission to kill paladin agents. David has to rescue Millie, defeat Roland, and somehow figure out whatever happened to his mom (Diane Lane).
The Verdict
Starting with the positive, "Jumper" delivers some killer special effects. Specifically, the jumping effect is fun and convincing. David does more than just vanish; he kind of "whooshes" away into a ripply wormhole before kind lurching out on the other side. I dug the sequences in which David and Griffin chase each other through jump after jump after jump all over the globe and through a ten or so climates. Cool stuff.
But given such a great concept, Limon and the writing team just don't deliver a story to support it. I have not read the original Steven Gould novel, but I understand it offered a much smaller plot. Building on the basic outline, the film creates a half-hearted mythology that leaves dozens of questions unanswered on its way to an unsatisfying conclusion. It feels more like a (mediocre) TV pilot setting up a long-running story.
Where does the power to "jump" come from? Why does it happen? Why are the paladin so committed to killing jumpers beyond the obviously limited witch-burning theology spouted in the film? Why are all the talking scenes so long, drawn out, and boring? All we get are hints and half-toughts and a big, spectacular-looking, open-ended conclusion.
Honestly, Hayden Christensen doesn't help much. Is he the new Keanu? His acting "style" is similar, and he keeps turning up in high-concept sci-fi films and low budget indies. But neither he nor Bilson are compelling enough here to earn much sympathy for their character's troubles. Jackson delivers another of his stock villains on his way to cashing the check for this one. I wonder what this story would have looked like with sidekick Jamie Bell as the lead and "mysterious mom" Diane Lane as the central villain. That might have been interesting.
Instead, "Jumper" will get filed with all the other cool idea/forgetable story sci-fi/action films that have come before it.
The movie's PG-13 comes with some harsh language (including using Jesus' and God's names for swearing), some harsh violence (including a fully-viewed stabbing to death of a helpless victim), and David's bedding of Millie (seen in a bra) and the anonymous blonde (seen covered by a sheet).
Worldview
"Jumper's" story is so incomplete it's hard to say much about its worldview. David's moral choices are odd. He feels kind of bad about stealing lots of money from banks, so he leaves little I.O.U. messages at the scenes of his crimes. But he doesn't have any apparent plan to earn legitimate money and pay it back. The story treats his stealing as a minor problem.
His pal Griffin kills paladin agents as an act of vengeance for their murders of jumpers -- and because they're out to kill him. David doesn't feel okay about that. His refusal to kill one paladin agent is supposed to show us that he's "different." Does that mean Griffin and the others really are evil? Not sure.
More interesting, I guess, is the paladin worldview that they are commissioned by God to kill jumpers, because jumpers always "go bad." The implication is that the jumpers' power eventually makes them feel entitled to do evil. But the paladin kill jumpers and everyone any jumper cares about. I guess it doesn't have to make sense because it's supposed to be religious fundamentalism, but we're left to assume that on our own.
I'd guess that some would equate Christians with the paladin -- fundamentalists who justify harming those who are different. That doesn't really mesh with real Jesus-following. Christians, on the other hand, might be more likely to think of ourselves as jumpers -- people given powers by God's Spirit to do extraordinary supernatural things (see 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4 for lists of those powers). Of course, we're given our powers to serve God and others. "Jumper" implies in an early scene that maybe David could be using his power for good (rescuing flood victims), but he's just choosing to serve himself, instead. Maybe the sequel will deal with that possibility.
In the meantime, it's not a bad idea for Christians to ask ourselves if we're serving only ourselves. Do you have untapped powers to be used by God to do extraordinary good? You'll never know if you don't try.
Questions:
• Did I miss something? Did "Jumpers" live up to the marketing hype for you?
• What would you do if you could jump around like David does? Where would you go? Do you think you could resist using the power to do something wrong?
• Have you read the novel the movie is based on? Which is better?
• What's the deal with Hayden Christensen? If you were casting this film after seeing it, who would you hire for the main roles?
• Did you spot any obvious worldview messages I missed? How do those stack up to a biblical worldview?
• Did you expect that David would eventually get around to using his power to rescue some innocent victim (besides his girlfriend)? Were you surprised by his selfish choices?