Review: Jumper

Hayden Christensen plays a young man with a rare genetic abnormality that allows him to transport himself elsewhere, anywhere in the world. Government endorsed religious zealots are out to kill him and the few other “jumpers” that exist. These types of movies require you to suspend some disbelief, and that’s cool. But this movie requires you to leave virtually every operating brain cell at the theatre door, and that’s not so cool.

It’s all about the special effects, baby! Including the very adorable Rachel Bilson’s artificially plumped upper lip. I think it has a credit of its own at the end of the movie – the lip, that is – and may be in the running for a special effects Oscar next year. But I digress.

I tend to like time travel movies and I must have confused my film trailers because I thought that’s what Jumper was going to be. It’s not. It’s a location travel movie and the cinematography is spectacular to be sure. But seeing Jumper is a lot like eating cotton candy. You know you’ve consumed something but you still feel empty inside.

If time travel is one of your “things”, rent the excellent movie Timeline, starring Paul Walker and Billy Connolly. If having your head spin off its axis from special effects and uneven editing is your thing, by all means, go see Jumper. Just don’t expect your movie appetite to be satisfied by the experience.