Jumper

At fifteen, I would have jumped for joy at a film like this all over the world, but five years later, I mourn the screenwriting dementia that turned a divine book into a shallow fairy tale for little kids. It lacks fatefulness, urgency, proper characters, dynamism, action, and, above all, style. Liman searches for it in vain for eighty minutes and fails to do so even in the final CGI ridiculousness. It's too bad he made this crap - any dunce working in advertising could have created the same thing. (05.04.2008)

"...and so I jumped for the first time...." But what came out of it? For adventure-seeking teenagers, it was definitely a delightful experience and a fulfilled dream, but for others, it was a slightly hesitant breather with forever young Hayden, adorable Rachel Bilson, and reliable Jackson. And unfortunately, also with unfinished, or rather just lightly touched upon mythology (see the story of the Paladin hunter, which ends almost before it begins). I admit that I enjoyed it because the weak half an hour and a half flies by very quickly, and with a bunch of money, Liman managed to make it really very visible, but judging from the hesitant box office results, I wasn't the only one who wasn't very bothered that there won't be a continuation. (10.04.2008)

Jumper is a completely empty and silly flick. It’s like an hour and a half of watching a nicely decorated aquarium without any fish in it. The creators didn’t see their idea through even halfway to the end and the only cool thing about the film is Samuel L. Jackson’s hairstyle. Unsuitable for viewers over 18. (13.02.2008)

The script was probably written according to the manual "How to write an 80-minute plot without breaking a sweat," and Hayden's a one-dimensional wooden actor. A very weak result for Doug Liman, short and rather dull silly stuff for MTV kids out of school. Thanks at least for Jamie Bell, who brought some adrenaline and dynamism to the story and compared to the bland Christensen looks like a rhododendron next to a dead cactus. (12.06.2008)

Current special effects technology is at such a level in the film industry that it allows practically anything to be filmed for a relatively decent amount of money. Jumper is an example of a film that relies on special effects scenes and quick editing. It reminds me either of a long music video of a rock band or a long advertisement for an adrenaline sport or an energy drink. It is exactly the kind of movie that teenagers between 13 and 15 years old will appreciate, but with each additional year, especially with a slightly more critical approach and higher demands, the experience fades away. It is a superficial spectacle where the characters lack any depth, and the storyline is so simple that even a ten-year-old child could have been hired instead of a screenwriter. Overall impression: 25% for the beautiful scenery. By the way, Hayden Christensen's performance is terrible... (10.01.2009)