Jumper defies gravity and logic

By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY

Playing a tough-guy warrior in Jumper (* * out of four), Samuel L. Jackson tells his far-less-imposing nemesis, Hayden Christensen: "I know who you are and I know what you are."

Never mind the clichéd dialogue. The bigger problem is that the audience doesn't know much about the hows and whys of Christensen's character and his special power.

Christensen plays David Rice, who discovers that he can teleport instantly to any spot in the world. "Jumpers" are able to flit through wormholes in the time-space continuum, landing in any spot their minds fix upon. On top of that, they can magically pass through doors and walls and into forbidden corners.

The swooping photography of such scenic locales as Tokyo, Rome or the Sahara is the highlight. Not only are jumpers able to satisfy their wanderlust and appetite for adventure, but they also are implicated in some of history's most noteworthy events.

But the travelogue and historical elements are secondary. Jumper is a sci-fi fantasy about a vendetta between jumpers such as David and Griffin (Jamie Bell) and those who try to keep them down. Roland (Jackson) is the most determined member of the clandestine, jumper-hating organization. The battle has been going on for centuries. It's not entirely clear why, but it has something to do with jumpers having few limits and no boundaries.

"Only God should have the power to be in all places at all times," Roland tells David. Alas, the places that Jackson has chosen to put his talent lately — notably Snakes on a Plane and Black Snake Moan— were questionable. This may be the dodgiest choice of all.

David has managed to elude Roland and company since he discovered his power as a teenager. But his Achilles' heel is his love for childhood pal Millie (Rachel Bilson). When he whisks her off to an exotic Roman holiday and fends off mysterious foes in the Colosseum, she says, "I think there's something you're not telling me."

Viewers will echo her confusion. Though the film starts out intriguingly, it never lives up to its promise, mostly because so little is explained. It's as if the rules and parameters of the story are being made up as the movie goes along. Director Doug Liman, so nimble in Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity, seems adrift here.

It doesn't help that the performances are bland (particularly those of Christensen and Bilson) and that what comes out of their mouths is uninspired. Short on imagination and anchored by a wan hero, Jumper is a flight of fancy that never fully takes off. (Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence, some language and brief sexuality. Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes. Opens today nationwide.)