'Jumper' never moves

With a string of credits that includes "Swingers," "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," director Doug Liman could have his pick of the Hollywood screenplay litter. So why pick "Jumper," a corny exercise in middle-school wish fulfillment?

To be fair, "Jumper" has some fun moments; the special effects, to give credit where credit is due, totally pop. It's the painfully unsophisticated, sci-fi-tinted premise - young man discovers latent powers of teleportation, has globe-trotting adventures - and corresponding plot holes that may give certain (read: nonskateboard-riding) audiences fits. Adapting from Steven Gould's 1992 novel, Liman and a trio of screenwriters try to present teleportation not simply as a plot device, but as Anne
Rice-style allegory for a generation of glamorous vagabonds. It's the new vampirism, get it?

Certainly, the ability to whisk oneself to any spot on the globe has paid off handsomely for 23-year-old David (Hayden Christensen from the "Star Wars" prequels). Eight years ago, as a socially awkward dweeb, David discovered his remarkable power while nearly drowning under a sheet of ice in Michigan. Now, with a whoosh! of movement, he can go anywhere he's laid eyes on - for instance, the top of the Sphinx, or more practically, the inside of a bank vault. And back out again, with gobs of cash in hand. Residing in ill-gotten Manhattan luxury, David cuts a supremely smug, insolent figure. "Once, I was a normal person ... a chump, just like you," he muses, in voice-over. Riiiight. Whatever unpleasantness awaits David, methinks it won't be enough.

Enter Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), a white-haired, knife-wielding Van Helsing who specializes in tracking and exterminating the mutant teleporters of the world. He relishes his work. "Only God should have the power to be all places at once," he intones, with a Jackson-esque nostril flare, right before dispatching his unfortunate quarry. Naturally, an imperiled female is involved: Millie, a childhood sweetheart played by Rachel Bilson ("The O.C."), here limited to baffled expressions
and general kvetching.

What we do get - in addition to a moderately thrilling merry-go-round of on-location action set pieces - is the blunt insinuation of a sequel. Really? Like David, the filmmakers might be jumping ahead of themselves.

Jumper
Stars: Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Rachel Bilson, Jamie Bell
Behind the scenes: Directed by Doug Liman, from a script by David S.
Goyer, Jim Uhls and Simon Kinberg
Rated:PG-13 (sequences of intense action violence, some profanity and
brief sexuality)
Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes
Grade: C+