Jumper: With Great Power Comes No Plot

Leaving Jumper with friends, we came to the same conclusion: it had all the right parts to make a great sequel, but didn't any of these parts in the original.

The movie follows David Rice (Hayden Christenson), who has the most childish of powers: he can teleport, or "jump." He uses this like a kid: disappear when his dad is angry, steal stuff, sneak into places, quietly leave after one-night stands, and the list goes on. Since he doesn't use his powers for any good, no donating stolen money or teleporting to rescue people from floods, they had to create a bad guy to hunt him. Enter Paladins, religious fanatics with high-tech weapons to capture jumpers, led by Roland, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Wait a second, did they just make Anakin on the side of light and Mace Windu on the dark side and entered teleporting instead of "the force?"

Back on subject, after living the anywhere/everywhere fantasy some, Rice goes home to Millie, played by "The O.C."s Rachel Bilson (Natalie Portman must not have been available for the reunion), his high school sweetheart and books a flight to Rome with her after not speaking to her for eight years. Paladins come and rescuing the girl is the first plot the movie has had and we start to understand how overused the plot is. Along for the ride is the wild Jamie Bell as the other jumper, Griffin, who actively participates in the war, hunting down Paladins and dropping them in shark pits off of the coast of Cuba.

Aside from the lack of plot is a lack of good screenwriting that gives our characters any depth, which prevents us from noticing the lack of good acting. Jackson and Bell give it their best, but the script doesn't allow them to shine like Jackson did when he did in Snake on a Plane and Bell does in the trailer for the upcoming Defiance (link provided at bottom). All the movie has is some decent action making the most of the jumping and the high-tech weapons used against the jumpers.

There is one good thing about the movie and that is it knows other movies. Rice hangs from Big Ben with an umbrella as though he's Mary Poppins, falls off the Empire State Building as though he were in Hudsucker Proxy, running along the beach chasing after each other from Pirates of the Carribean 2, and there's probably a few others I just didn't catch.

Is it entertaining? Barely. The action has its moments, but the time away from that it tries to be dramatic and fails with flat characters and no development.

Is it marketable? The only thing selling this movie is special effects and actors/actresses that make great myspace backgrounds.

Is it memorable? No.

My suggestion: Great teleporting is available in X-Men 2, and better superheroes can be found... well, anywhere.