Doug Liman
Jumper

Sometimes I like to go to the movies to "switch off my mind," to watch a light-hearted and amusing film, just to spend a couple of carefree hours.

In this category, you can include Michael Bay films, the X-Men saga, or stuff like Underworld.

So, the other night I decided to go see this "Jumper," full of hope for a film that promised, from the trailer, to be "cool" enough: excellent SFX, a charming little story, over-the-top characters. Hopes promptly dashed.

Let's start with the plot: an ordinary unlucky kid discovers he can teleport anywhere (he is, indeed, a Jumper) and, within a few years (in the film, just a few minutes of direct narration from the protagonist), transforms into a super cool thief with little scruples until he meets the Paladins, a group that, as a dazed, out-of-place, and borderline ridiculous Samuel L. Jackson tells us, have hunted Jumpers since the dawn of time (a sprinkle of "secret conflicts" always fits nicely these days). After this first encounter, the protagonist's golden world collapses, and he first hides with his childhood friend he has always loved, then with a second jumper. From here, the film further sinks (as if it needed to) into a swamp of clichés, miserably failing in its "escapist" intent, resulting in dull and predictable, giving the impression of wasted opportunity and proceeding with a "jumping" narrative.

One of the points I was counting on is also missing: the fights between jumpers and paladins are very brief and lack intensity, with inadequate choreography (ah, the good old days of Matrix) and inconsistencies one after the other. The finale then reaches the apex of sadness, amidst unresolved issues (the inevitable sequel already announced), messianic aspirations ("I am different," the protagonist repeatedly declares) and poor technical execution.

As for the actors, total disappointment for a silver-haired Samuel L. Jackson who, despite being one of the experienced paladins, cuts a poor figure, Hayden Christensen acts in the path of inexpressiveness (as in his sublime portrayal of Anakin Skywalker), Rachel Bilson always seems busy on the trendy beaches of "The O.C."

In conclusion, "Jumper" represents the new deal of action movies for American youngsters (in which we can include big films like "Transformers" and the like), where directors don't even try to dare something different, but instead, tell the same story over and over, changing just a few details (illustrative is the fact that "Jumper" mentions Spiderman and Marvel a couple of times, suggesting an ideal parallel between the two films), diluting any pretentious authorial claim.