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Jumper

6/10

Stars: Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Morgan Freeman, Rachel Bilson, Michael Rooker, Diane Lane, Annasophia Robb, Max Theriot, Tom Hulce, Kristen Stewart, Teddy Dunn, Barbara Garrick

Director: Doug Liman

If you’re in the mood for fast-moving, if facile science fiction action and thrills then Christensen’s travels – and travails – as the eponymous ‘jumper’ whose power to teleport takes him wherever he wants to be in a flash of the special effects should be just your undemanding cup of easily enjoyable hokum. (Mind you, my favourite teleportation movie still remains the 1958 version of The Fly).

Our Hero discovers his mysterious powers of teleportation as a schoolboy when he crashes through the ice on a frozen river and, instead of dying, finds himself sodden but unharmed in a library miles away. Grown up, he makes his living by teleporting into bank vaults to collect the money he needs and then flitting hedonistically around the world – until a sinister organization known as Paladins, headed by Freeman sporting a silly white wig, come after him with murder in mind as their agenda demands.

Don’t try and figure out what’s happening while you watch. The screenplay doesn’t exactly provide all the answers, but fortunately Liman keeps things moving briskly enough to prevent you from wondering until after the end credits. Christensen does the action hero bit well enough, Bilson as Christensen’s girlfriend makes a suitably appealing woman-in-peril and Bell enjoys himself as Christensen’s mentor and sidekick. But the real stars are the excellent special effects.

Alan Frank

USA 2008. UK Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox. Colour.
88 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 13 Feb 2008