THE MOVIE

Hayden Christensen as David Rice in Jumper.

Starring Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson (both from Star Wars Episode II & III), Jumper is a sci-fi movie which managed to achieve a box office of over $US220 million around the globe when it was released early this year. Filled with visual effects, and solid premise and a great director, we were very keen to check this out on Blu-Ray through 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

A genetic anomaly allows a young man to teleport himself anywhere. He discovers this gift has existed for centuries and finds himself in a war that has been raging for thousands of years between Jumpers and Paladins - those who have sworn to kill them.

Directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr & Mrs Smith) Jumper is a movie which will be remembered for the wide variety of locations traveled to around the world. There's well over a dozen locations seen throughout this movie, and that's where many of the thrills come in. Where will David jump to next? Beyond that the storyline is interesting, and the action sequences pretty intense as well and there's a nice little twist leading to a potential sequel at the end of the movie too.

Michael Rooker plays David's father.

In terms of actors I can't honestly say that there are many outstanding performances here. Samuel L. Jacskson seems to be the same person he plays in almost everyone of his movie, the hard-assed, slow walking, mean talking, take-no-shit type that every movie needs. More disappointing though is Hayden Christensen who still seems to be struggling to break away from the Anakin Skywalker character which he will probably be forever known for. Having said that his performance here isn't up to that in Shattered Glass (a movie worth checking our if you get the opportunity).

The main issue we have with this movie is simply that it isn't given enough time to flesh out he beckground and characters. With a runtime of under 84 minutes before the credits come up there's a lot here left unanswered, and while we may see two more sequels (they have planned two more) it makes this movie seem uncomplete. Why are the Paladins so intent on killing Jumpers? How did Samuel L Jackson's character become the 'head' of that group? How many other Jumpers are there?

While Jumper isn't a high point in the sci-fi/action genre it is somewhat entertaining and certainly has an interesting premise. If you're looking for something to show off your Blu-Ray player you could do worse then this movie as it does have some bells and whistles, but ultimately, your opinion of the movie will likely fall in line with my own.

VIDEO

Rachel Bilson as Millie in Jumper.

Jumper is presented on this Blu-Ray disc using the AVC MPEG-4 codec at 1080p as per standard on Blu-Ray. There is no denying that this movie looks impressive with a pristine print being used as the source for this transfer (as one would expect for such a recent movie). The colours are rich, and the transfer exhibits wonderful levels of detail. The visual effects, including when the characters jump, are wonderful as well.

Some of the darker scenes can appear a little on the flat side, and some other scenes don't quite seem as sharp as others. Still these are very small issues in yet another otherwise impressive Blu-Ray presentaion from Fox.

AUDIO
As with pretty much every Fox Blu-Ray release the audio on this disc is presented via DTS-HD Master Audio, and being such an action packed, effects laiden picture there is no way this won't manage to shake your theatre room and blow your socks off. Well, ok. There were some of the dialogue scenes which seemed a little flatter, but when the characters are jumping around the surrounds will be in full use while the bass will also be given a good workout.

Besides the English track other languages on the Jumper Blu-Ray release includes Italian and Spanish DTS 5.1 track encoded at 768kbps, as well as an English Descriptive Audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448kbps.

Not to be outdone with the audio there are also plenty of subtitles tracks on this disc including English for the Hearing Impaired, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norweigan and Swedish. Each of those languages has a track for the movie, and also for the commentary. Sampling the English track showed no timing or issues with the dialogue.

EXTRAS
As such as recent movie it's not surprising to see a decent set of extras on this Blu-Ray disc. All the extras are presented in High Definition, and are well worth a look.

Samuel L. Jackson as Roland in Jumper.

Audio Commentary by Director Doug Liman, Writer/Producer Simon Kinberg, and Producer Lucas Foster: This is quite an interesting commentary with continual discussion about the production of the movie, and often the troubles they encountered during it. If you love this movie, or like listening to commentaries then this is worth your time.

Jumping Around the World (PIP/non-PIP): This Picture-in-Picture (or non-PIP if you so choose) extra on the disc brings up a series of smaller windows throughout the film detailing where they are located, and showing some behind the scenes footage and interviews about the production. If you don't want Picture in Picture, you can access a menu of the numerous locations to access each featurette sepertately, and view them in full-screen rather then in a small window.

Jumpstart: David's Story (8:07/HD): A rather interesting animated story giving some more background to the story and in particular the character of David. This is presetend in HD using the AVC MPEG-4 codec but only includes 224kbps Dolby 2.0 audio.

Doug Liman's Jumper: Uncensored (35:34/HD): A pretty neat look at the production of this movie and the troubles of shooting right around the globe in one of the lenthiest, and dare we say most troubled, shoots in recent times. This is quite an impressive featurette that could have easily been quite a bit longer and not felt overwhelming.

Making an Actor Jump (7:46/HD): A look at how the filmmakers filmed and created the visual effects for the many jumps in the movie.

Someone seems a little tied up!

Jumping From Novel to Film: The Past, Present, & Future of Jumper (7:46/HD): This featurette looks at this franchise has gone from a series of novels to the big screen and how they have planned a trilogy of movies.

Deleted Scenes (11:17/HD): Six deleted/expanded scenes are presented here, all in HD which is nice to see, although visual effects haven't been completed as one can understand. These could have been easily slotted back into the movie to expand the story, and runtime, a little more.

Previz - Future Concepts (4:34/HD): A series of rough CG based concept animations. Pretty cool if only to see what techniques movie producers use today to set the tone prior to filming although rather then just some orchestral music a commentary would have been welcome.

OVERALL
Jumper is a decent, although somewhat uninspiring, sci-fi action movie. While the visual effects are good and the acting adequate, the story doesn't really inspire too much, and the movie seems a little rushed with little character development. Still, this is fine as a rental, and there are some nice extras to have a look at.

Review By: Dave Warner

THE MOVIE	6/10
THE VIDEO	8/10
THE AUDIO	9/10
THE EXTRAS	4/10
OVERALL	6.5/10