With a fantastic premise this movie was a “must see” on our list. Besides the fact that Hayden Christensen was starring in it we put this to one side and saw it anyway. Just as I anticipated it would be, his acting was complete rubbish but Jamie Bell and Samuel L Jackson are well worth seeing.
The premise of the movie is about David Rice (Christensen) who is a genetic anomally in which he can teleport himself and other people or items that he is touching. Once having discovered this talent he takes off from home where mum left mysteriously and abruptly when he was 5 and dad is a bit of a bully. Sadly he leaves behind the “girl next door” that he has been in love with since they were 5. He uses his teleporting skills to “jump” into banks to fund his lifestyle, teleporting in and out of countries as he pleases. What he doesn’t know is that there are other jumpers like himself as well as a group of bounty hunters called the Paladin that are organised to capture and kill jumpers. The Paladins are an ancient organisation that have been hunting jumpers for centuries (i.e. witch hunts in the medieval ages etc). Things start to go wrong for David when the Paladins catch up with him at the same time he hooks up with Mille, the girl next door that he left behind. Help and a person to explain what the Paladins are after comes from a fellow jumper named Griffin (Jamie Bell) to try and stop key hunter Roland (Samuel L Jackson).
With amazing locations and such an intriguing storyline it was a pity that it ended so abruptly and unsatisfactorily. Jamie Bell’s character fell away when things were getting good and the whole ending to the movie felt rushed like they ran out of time or just couldn’t be bothered anymore. I haven’t read the novel so maybe this might hold some insight into where the movie has left off but I am assuming that a second movie is a possibility.
Memorable quotes:
“You think you can go on like this forever? Living like this with no consequences? There are always consequences”
2.5 out of 5.