While the picture and audio Quality are top notch and the disc is filled with hours of bonus features, it’s hard to recommend a purchase. This is an entertaining flick but not something I plan on going back to.
Jumper
(2008)
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Action, Thriller
Fox | PG13 – 88 min. – $39.98 | June 10, 2008
Date Published: 06/01/2008 | Author: Brad Lowenberg
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Twentieth Century Fox provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE – 3.25/5
In this exhilarating sci-fi action-thriller, David Rice (Hayden Christensen) is a Jumper – a genetic anomaly with the power to instantly teleport anywhere in the world. But David soon finds himself in an ongoing global war that threatens the very survival of his rare and extraordinary kind.
Jumper is a film starring Hayden Christensen (Star Wars Episode III) as David Rice, a young adult who can “jump” between places as long as he has been there or seen it. He discovers this ability as a teenager and uses it as a way to escape from his broken mother-less family into a world where he can go anywhere and do anything. If he wants to have lunch on top of the Sphinx, he can. If he wants to take a quick trip to London, all he needs to do is look at the picture and in an instant he’s gone. Before he leaves as a teenager he decides to rob a bank so he would be set for life. Doing so brings him into the radar of Roland (SAMUEL L. JACKSON), a man who hunts and kills these “Jumpers” because he doesn’t want anyone to have the ability’s that God apparently has.
The film itself is just a jumbled mess of plot lines that make me wonder how this movie was actually produced. For unknown reasons David is a Jumper and my thought was that his mother (played briefly by DIANE LANE) who abandoned him actually produces Jumpers (because David meets a fellow Jumper named Griffin who’s mother also left him when he was five… coincidence? I think not!). While it is never fully explained, I imagine the sequel may address this issue.
Of course, I couldn’t go on without mentioning the laugh factory that is Samuel L. Jackson. For reasons unknown, he decided it would be cool to dye his hair white for the character of Roland. But it’s not just regular white, its snow white. Absolutely ridiculous. Is he even trying to blend in at all? Some of the gadgets Roland and his secret organization uses are pretty neat, but they appear to give Roland almost special ability’s. If he truly is a human, how in the world is he doing these amazing martial arts moves and slamming metal so hard into the ground that it actually goes through cement? Instead of these devices that causes a Jumper not to jump (which is poorly explained), why not just use a gun and kill them? That’s what he is planning to do anyway before he gives his little spiel and then takes his knife out. Samuel L. Jackson is just like Eugene Levy (American Pie 1-8) and will do anything for a buck (coincidentally both starred in The Man).
The acting by the other “stars” are not as bad as Samuels, by still far from good. While Hayden Christensen is not bad, he simply does not seem right for the role. If anything his fellow jumper Griffin would be a better fit as the main character, but instead he is sparingly used. That brings me onto the character which did absolutely nothing but looked pretty, Rachel Bilson (“The O.C.”). For someone who is incredibly beautiful and talented, she served no purpose in this film. She gets kidnapped which last for a few minutes, but other than that, just wanders around from scene to scene doing very little and taking away from the coolness of jumping around.
Jumper is an odd breed of a film. I’m not sure if I like it or hate it. While it wasn’t particularly bad, it wasn’t good either. The plot makes little sense and Samuel L. Jackson made me laugh every time his frosty-haired head showed up. The whole film itself seems to be a setup for a much bigger plot that will happen in an eventual sequel.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.25/5
All features are presented in HD.
Worth noting is that this is Fox’s first Blu-ray that includes a slipcover and all features from the 2 disc “Special Edition” DVD are present here.
Feature Commentary (Director Doug Liman, Writer/Producers Simon Kinberg and Producer Lucas Foster) – A fairly entertaining track. I didn’t care for the movie as much as my girlfriend did (she thought it was really cool), but all 3 brings a very informative track. Personally I would have much rather had a track that also included a cast member or two as I would love to hear about their experiences visiting these unique locations.
Jumping Around the World (PiP track is Profile 1.1/2.0 only) – Not only is this available for normal Profile 1.0 players (via featurettes selectable at the menu screen) but it is also playable as a PiP track while watching the film. When the characters are in locations a short featurette will pop-up showing some behind the scenes information. The PiP track is Blu-ray exclusive, while watching the featurettes themselves separately are not.
Doug Liman’s Jumper: Uncensored Documentary (35:30) – One of the better features of the disc goes into almost everything you could think of regarding the film. That includes location shoots and re-writes. Recommended Watch!
Making an Actor Jump (7:34) – Liman shows us exactly how the “jump” works and the process involved in it. Recommended Watch!
Jumping from Novel to Film: The Past, Present and Future of Jumper (8:07) – Gives us an idea on how they used the Novel to craft what will potentially be a trilogy of films. I can only hope the future movies will have a darker twist on them and bring us a bit more information on Roland and his organization.
Jumpstart: David’s Story Animated Graphic Novel (8:00) – An animated graphic novel starring David.
Deleted Scenes (11:11) – Six Deleted scenes are presented here and only one of them (One with Roland) was actually good. These were rightfully cut from the film. Some still include the green screen so they were obviously not meant for the final film.
A second disc is also included with a DVD that includes a digital copy of the film. A nice feature considering this price is in line with typical Fox’s pricing. The title is also optimized for anyone that happens to own one of the $13,000 D-Box chairs.
VIDEO – 4.75/5
What Jumper lacks in the plot category it makes up for in the picture and audio categories. Jumper is presented in its Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 (AVC/MPEG-4) on a 50GB disc. Fox did an amazing job on this transfer as the film looks spectacular. Colors are very vibrant, and all the locations that we see look great. I was able to pick out even the tiniest details in scenes and when they actually “jumped” the screen had a nice ripple effect to it. The “scars” are equally impressive. Not an ounce of edge enhancement or DNR.
AUDIO – 4.5/5
Fox continues to stick to providing an English DTS MA 5.1 track as well as Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. While the DTS MA track sounds amazing, I only wished they also included a TrueHD or PCM track for those that cannot decode it due to player or receiver issues. Aside from that little nitpick; expect to hear everything around you in perfect clarity. Dialogue was clear, and anytime the characters “jump” the sound effects are very neat.
OVERALL – 4.0/5
While the picture and audio Quality are top notch and the disc is filled with hours of bonus features, it’s hard to recommend a purchase. This is an entertaining flick but not something I plan on going back to until its inevitable sequel comes out. It’s still a great rental an excellent popcorn flick for the entire family.