thomas4cinema

The story of a young boy who discovers his ability to leap though space at will, allowing him a life in style by withdrawing cash directly from the bank vaults (of which he makes generous use) and allowing him to safe people trapped in floods and take them out safely (of which he abstains).
Trouble hits his calm life between breakfast on top of the Gize pyramids and taking a ride on a London double decker, when Samuel L. Jackson sniffs his trace and decides to hunt him down. “Jumpers are the worst.” he sighs, but we never learn the worst among which specific sub-group of society and why anyway. Whichever it is, his intention is to kill them all with a big knife, which is why the Jumper boy is in trouble. And his girlfriend, and his Jumper buddy from Scotland. In the end, it is about jumping away a house, which has never been managed before, so … you guess.
There is a new rule in movies. After we have safely established the “Whenever Ben Kingsley plays the head of a secret organisations: beware!” rule, now here comes the “Whenever Samuel L. Jackson plays in a movie having a supporting role and his hair dyed white, beware!” rule. Or maybe “Any films with Samuel Jackson and Hayden Christiansen and a metal tube electronic gadget: beware!” Some bits of the special effects are quite pleasant to watch, with the possibilities involved in this particular ability rather well developed and not too many holes in the setup of this idea. What exactly the problem is between the Jumpers and the other guys (what are they called again? Centurions??) we do not learn, but it is a very old battle they are fighting, just like those vampires and Blade, you know? The whole drama, however, does not have a point and nothing happens that would be above mediorce in terms of directions, design, editing, camera, or acting. Script is actually way down the bottomless pit of terribleness: “We have his girlfirend, now he must come to us.” Arg! The director did do O.C., this terrible tv show before, so I hope for him that he is on a long-term contract with the networks – this movie I would not include in my job application package!