By Laurence Washington
Cotton-top Samuel L. Jackson administers more than a little pain to his former Jedi apprentice Hayden Christensen in “Jumper” – an implausible sci-fi flick where individuals called Jumpers can transport themselves anywhere in the world just by envisioning where they’d like to travel.
Christensen stars as Jumper David Rice, who uses his powers to pop into bank vaults after hours and help himself to a plenitude of cash. Rice takes his spoils and moves into a Manhattan apartment that’s littered with postcards of places where he likes to jump, when he’s not robbing banks.
Enter Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), a white-hair killer and avenging angel called a Paladin, whose race has been slaying Jumpers for centuries. So naturally Roland pursues Rice throughout the film with a wicked tazergun, because Paladins see Jumpers as an abomination before God.
A detriment to this film’s premise is the filmmakers offer no explanation whatsoever as to why Rice has the power to travel to the Sphinx in the blink of an eye, or survey London from the clock-face of Big Ben. Rice just one day discovers he has supernatural powers. Rice is so callous with his powers, that it’s hard for the audience identify with him. In fact, it’s easier to root for villain Samuel L. Jackson. Laden with a lot of ultra-cool special effects, one still can’t help but wonder at the end where’s the beef in this hyper-action flick.
