Jumper (2008)
Directed by Doug Liman
David Rice is a man who knows no boundaries, a Jumper, born with the uncanny ability to teleport instantly to anywhere on Earth. When he discovers others like himself, David is thrust into a dangerous and bloodthirsty war while being hunted by a sinister and determined group of zealots who have sworn to destroy all Jumpers. Now, David’s extraordinary gift may be his only hope for survival!
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What critics say influenced Jumper
Wispy-voiced, devoid of humor or libidinal zing, physically un-commanding, these two bring to mind Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard" when she laments, "We had faces then."
Yet there is no gainsaying his strongest work; the Cameron who made “Aliens,” “The Abyss,” and the first two “Terminator” films remains one of the few directors capable of shouldering an outlandish concept and bearing it onward to its coherent end.
Yet there is no gainsaying his strongest work; the Cameron who made “Aliens,” “The Abyss,” and the first two “Terminator” films remains one of the few directors capable of shouldering an outlandish concept and bearing it onward to its coherent end.
The same one, in fact, used in every teenager-centric piece of storytelling since at least "Rebel Without a Cause," right down to the sensitive but obtuse girl of his dreams and her jerk, bully boyfriend.
Michael Rooker ( Cliffhanger ) and Diane Lane are barely around as David’s parents, with the latter ostensibly cast in the tragic event a sequel should arise.
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Whatever the case, the white hair and the severe haircut result in Jackson looking like a cross between Wesley Snipes in Demolition Man (1993) and the old guy on the Cream of Wheat box.
Christensen, who's never really recovered from his woefully vanilla reading of the strapping young Sith lord-cum-Tiger Beat pinup, here gets to keep a girl, although not the girl (and not at the Hotel Chevalier, sadly), and beam his molecules all over the globe without ending up like Jeff Goldblum in The Fly. Actually, taken at face value, Jumper is pretty slick, entertaining stuff, well-crafted by Liman; edited into a tight, action-packed bundle of nerviness by Saar Klein (The Bourne Identity); and scripted with not a little Marvel Universality by David S. Goyer (the Blade series and the upcoming X-Men spin-off, Magneto).
He and Christensen acted together in the "Star Wars" series and that film, along with "The Matrix" is halfheartedly referenced here.
It targets the 15 to 25 age-bracket with its CGI fantasy adventure tale that is marketed as a cross between the "Bourne" films and "The Matrix."
One day, while treading across dangerously thin ice in order to retrieve a sno-globe that he bought for Millie (an item that eventually becomes the most significant such tchotcke to grace movie screens since the one that Orson Welles dropped at the start of “Citizen Kane,” though I assure you that comparisons between the two films begin and end there), David plunges into the water below but inexplicably winds up soaking wet on the floor of the local library.
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The chief special effect, wherein Christensen disappears and reappears to the accompaniment of a whooshing sonic thump, is a big yawn, having already been perfected for the ages by Ray Walston in the 1960s sitcom "My Favorite Martian."
Director Doug Liman, who did "Swingers" and "Go" before becoming an action guy with "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr.
This is a surprise because the film was directed by Doug Liman, a filmmaker whose previous efforts (including “Go” and “The Bourne Identity”) has shown him to have a certain flair for putting together complicated narratives and kinetic action scenes into a final product that plays absolutely coherently as you watch it (though many questions may come to mind the minute you hit the parking lot afterwards).
This incoherent, unimaginative and silly sci-fi thriller about teleporters is based on the novel by Steven Gould and is directed by Doug Liman ("Go"/"Swingers"/"Mr. & Mrs. Smith"), a once promising filmmaker who has now settled nicely into a mediocre Hollywood career.
The film signifies a need for a career intervention for director Doug Liman, who started as an exciting indie filmmaker with "Swingers" and "Go" but then made the speedy but hollow action flicks "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr.
It should be a way-cool kick in the pants, but Liman -- who made his name directing such hyper-caffeinated films as "Go" and "The Bourne Identity" -- dispenses with even the most visceral pleasures of pulp, rendering "Jumper" oddly lifeless.
2. Could Liman — director of "Swingers," "Go," "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr.
The film signifies a need for a career intervention for director Doug Liman, who started as an exciting indie filmmaker with "Swingers" and "Go" but then made the speedy but hollow action flicks "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr.
In Jumper (20th Century Fox), directed by Doug Liman (Swingers, The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith), Christensen's bratty indolence should have been a plus.
This incoherent, unimaginative and silly sci-fi thriller about teleporters is based on the novel by Steven Gould and is directed by Doug Liman ("Go"/"Swingers"/"Mr. & Mrs. Smith"), a once promising filmmaker who has now settled nicely into a mediocre Hollywood career.
2. Could Liman — director of "Swingers," "Go," "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr.
The end result is a mindlessly engaging piece of escapist fare that benefits from its uniformly able performances and refreshingly brisk running time, yet it's certainly impossible not to wonder when (or if) Liman will return to the comparatively masterful territory of early efforts like Swingers and Go.