Great concept. Awesome effects. Cool fight scenes. Not a single likable character. ( )

Jumper on DVD. This movie lacked only one thing: a compelling story. It had exotic location shots in Tokyo, Rome and Egypt. It had fine special effects depicting teleportation and high-speed chases. It had a solid cast with Hayden Christensen, Rachel Bilson and Samuel L. Jackson in the lead roles. Christensen plays David Rice, a 15-year-old loner with an alcoholic father, who discovers that he has the power to teleport anywhere in the world. He runs away and for eight years leads a playboy lifestyle funded by occasional bank robberies. Jackson plays Roland, the leader of a secret organization, the Palladins, dedicated to tracking down and killing these “jumpers” for centuries. The audience is never given a sufficient explanation as to why “jumpers” must be eliminated, nor how Rice escaped their notice for so long, nor how they finally tracked him down. Rice escapes Roland’s initial confrontation and heads home, only to put his family and girlfriend (Bilson) in peril at which point the film devolves into one long chase, with Rice partnering with another jumper to evade Roland’s traps.
The producers clearly state that their goal was to establish this episode as the first part of a trilogy of films, but they would have better served viewers by making a complete film. The action sequences may be enough to satisfy some, but many will not be compelled to return for the sequels.

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