Jumper 2008

Critics score:
16 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Is there something innately vexing about a story whose premise opens the door so wide, to so many geographical possibilities? Jumper, the film, goes everywhere and nowhere. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Jumper had potential, though. It's got a clever premise. And at its best, in the beginning, it almost feels like the pilot for a prime-time series you'd like to see more of. But now we're jumping ahead of ourselves. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Like so many other CGI behemoths, this dull action fantasy ultimately squashes rather than inspires one's sense of wonder. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Jumper, based on the novel by Steven Gould, re-defines -- downward -- the notion of dreadful. It does so by dispensing with everything a movie needs for a shot at being merely awful. Read more

Mark Rahner, Seattle Times: A whole lot of teleporting [with] a story that seems unfinished. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: No exciting action can cover the film's profound shallowness and repulsive attitude toward everyone but Christensen. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Jumper strains credulity, even for a fantasy-action film; its lead character isn't particularly likable; and Samuel L. Jackson sports funny hair. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: This movie should be playing on the CW between episodes of Reaper and One Tree Hill. Read more

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: Jumper seems half-done -- a long prologue building to a classic hero's journey or the launch of an antihero -- but comes to a screeching halt before it can begin either. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: It's a paradox, but science fiction has to make sense: It can rest on the world's most outlandish premise, but only if its internal logic holds up to scrutiny. And Jumper can't make that leap. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Jumper has so many loose ends that it almost cries out for a sequel. This, of course, is intentional. I would say the filmmakers are being a tad optimistic. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Jumper skips emotional traction (or humor) in what feels like a rush to the inevitable sequel or two. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A herky-jerky mess of a movie, Jumper leaps about so erratically you get the feeling bent pogo sticks were employed in the editing room. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: There's no real behavior, just endless movement brought off with empty crackerjack skill. Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: The only force on Earth so dense that it apparently can't be moved even by the movie's special effects is Christensen's wooden acting. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: It presumes, with misguided cynicism, that Rice's oafish choices reflect the smoldering fantasies of any average guy who might wish to jump himself out of an unforgiving, single-parent household in Ann Arbor, Mich. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: One day, I feel sure, the rich mantle of charisma will descend upon [Hayden Christensen], but Jumper is not that occasion. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: I can't see people lining up for a sequel -- unless Samuel Jackson's hair grows out and marches on Tokyo. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Given its uninvolving story, uninteresting characters and the presence of half-man/half-tree Hayden Christensen, the movie is wholly dependent on special effects, which I rate only so-so. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Doug Liman's Jumper takes an intriguing premise -- a guy who can teleport himself anywhere, anytime -- and turns it into a totally ridiculous and incoherent sci-fi adventure. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: A piece of idiotic sci-fi piffle called Jumper looks like $90 billion wasted on 90 minutes of popcorn junk. Even the butter is phony. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Technical tricks can't hide a tired time-travel story dressed down with an almost humorless script. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Adapted from Steven Gould's young-adult novel, Liman's tale of the bookish high-schooler with unusual powers isn't a shot of adrenaline, it's an OD. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: One of the cardinal rules when making a motion picture about a superhero, especially one no one has heard of, is not to make the integrity of the story depend on the existence of a sequel. Unfortunately, that's a rule that director Doug Liman breaks. Read more

Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun-Times: A movie so silly you may find yourself giggling helplessly even as you wish you could magically transport yourself almost anywhere else in the world but where you are, in front of the screen showing it. Read more

James Hannaham, Salon.com: Though dazzled by its ultra-modern wizardry and the high gloss of its production values, one can also feel the globalist double standard roiling underneath the adolescent-kid fantasy plot. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: As a travelogue, Jumper isn't half bad, with lots of juicy images of Rome, Tokyo, New York and other splendid places. But we're supposed to be watching a sci-fi action film, and that's where things go south. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Jumper never contends with its biggest liability: the fact that its main character is neither a lovable rascal nor a fascinatingly dark antihero, but just kind of a smug tool. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's positioned as the first installment of a trilogy and, if Christensen follows through on the character's promise of greater charisma and depth, I'll willingly line up for the next two. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Woefully short on script, the picture ends up disappearing down the wormhole of its own premise. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Logic takes the greatest leap in Jumper, a sci-fi thriller that plays like a frog jacked on steroids. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: So freakin' awful. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Short on imagination and anchored by a wan hero, Jumper is a flight of fancy that never fully takes off. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: Slick but extremely slim. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: It's that rare genre picture targeted to teens and young adults that suffers from underkill. Read more