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And then there is the obligatory love interest. When we first meet the adult David, it seems he makes a point of seducing women in far-flung locales just because he can. But the moment Roland begins pursuing him, David returns to his hometown and looks up Millie (Rachel Bilson), the girl he had a crush on in high school. And even though she hasn't seen him in years, Millie immediately goes with him on a plane trip to Rome. (They go by plane because he hasn't revealed his superpower to her, not yet.) And there she sleeps with him. And then the Paladins attack. Whoops.

It is difficult to tell whether the film is crippled more by the underwritten characters or by the underwhelming performances. Christensen and Bilson are not exactly the most interesting actors around, but in fairness, the characters they play are fairly shallow to begin with. And Jackson, whose character has attention-getting, blindingly white hair even though you might think his job would require him to blend in a little more, is in pure paycheque-collecting mode here; at times he even seems a little bored.

Roland and David face off … this time sans lightsabers

The Paladins, incidentally, are identified by Griffin as a bunch of "fanatics" who were responsible for witch hunts and the Inquisition in medieval Europe—and on two separate occasions, Roland gives a religious justification for his work, saying at one point that Jumpers are an "abomination" and he is hunting them down because only God should have the power "to be at all places at all times." In this regard, the film's sensibilities are the opposite of, say, X2: X-Men United, where it was the teleporting superhero, Nightcrawler, rather than the persecuting bigots who had some sort of faith.

It is interesting, though, that Griffin would say the Paladins were behind some of the institutional abuses of the past, given that Roland typically poses as an agent for the NSA, CIA, FBI, or some other acronym whenever he needs the top-secret info that will help him find David. On one level, the film taps into fears that government agencies will misuse their power—a theme that Jumper director Doug Liman has already explored in The Bourne Identity, which he directed, and its sequels, which he executive-produced—but on another level, it distances the villains from today's agencies by showing how Roland only pretends to be one of their officers.

It's a striking difference from the original novel, which was basically a coming-of-age story in which David initially resents the government the same way he resents his father, but eventually comes to see past the need for revenge on both counts—not least because he is afraid that he might become the very thing he hates. But any hint of psychological complexity or subtlety is tossed aside in the film, which tries to set up a more generic kind of battle between good and evil—and in doing so, it ends up promising more than it can deliver. For all its epic locations, Jumper remains pretty small-scale. Maybe they're saving the real "war" for the sequel?

Talk About It

1. Can you think of any biblical examples of teleportation? What about passages like Acts 8:38-40? Is it a power you would like to have? What would you do with it?
2. What do you make of Roland's statement that only God should have the power to be in all places at all times? Is that an accurate description of what David and Griffin can do? What if God gave them this power? Consider examples in the Bible and elsewhere, where God has given people the power to heal, and so on. Why does God share his power? Why do people sometimes try to control how others use it?
3. David says he always intended to pay back the banks that he robs. Why do you think he doesn't? How do our limitations, or the lack thereof, affect our morality?

The Family Corner

Jumper is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence (people being zapped with stun guns, attacked with flamethrowers, hit by teleporting vehicles, stabbed bloodlessly with knives, etc.), some language (a few four-letter words, Jesus' name spoken in vain a few times) and brief sexuality (at least two images of women in bed, either in their underwear or tucked under the covers).

Photos © Copyright 20th Century Fox

© Peter T. Chattaway subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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