GamerNode: Columns - DVD Review: Jumper

DVD Review: Jumper

This review originally appeared on June 30, but due to taking the review off live to play with formatting, I unwittingly changed its posting date to today. I apologize for the inconvenience. 

I'm an absolute sucker for stuff involving anything remotely related to superpowers. Heroes, all the Marvel movies, comics, anime--if they have powers, I'll likely watch it. So it should come as no surprise that when Jumper was announced, I looked forward to it immensely. Then, after seeing the reviews of the movie and taking a look at other competing films, I opted to wait until it was out on DVD to watch; a choice I'm glad to have made.

Jumper is the story of a group of people called jumpers; particularly one named David (played by Mr. Lethargy himself, Hayden Christensen). Learning he had his powers at a young age, David did what most would do and used them for his own selfish reasons. Robberies, traveling all over the world instantly--you know, the good stuff. Unfortunately for David, one large heist in a bank catches the attention of a certain other Star Wars alum, Samuel L Jackson. And this time, he's looking to get even with Anakin for chopping his hand off.

Playing a man named Roland, Samuel L exhudes his normal scene-stealing tendencies, overacting in such a way that only he could. Roland is what's called a paladin, and as any gamer knows, that means he basically does the work of God. According to his order, no man should be able to be everywhere at once but God, so the paladins hunt down jumpers to execute them. The film follows David and his carefree running from Roland, along the way enlisting help from another jumper and trying to rekindle a childhood crush, played by Rachel Bilson who tries her best to singlehandedly ruin this movie.

All in all, Jumper is a film that plays to most cliches in the book. It's a big budget action trip, where the story takes backseat to the visuals and effects. To that degree, Jumper succeeds, although not quite as well on DVD as on Blu-Ray.

Jumper is presented in its original 2.35:1 ratio, and the transfer to DVD seems to have gone pretty smoothly. Colors and liens aren't as crisp as they are on the Blu-Ray version, but it's still considerably better than most recent DVD releases.

While the DVD and two-disc special edition have a bevy of special features, only two really stand out. One shows the locales of the film and gives some brief information on them all, a great watch for anyone who is intrigued by faraway lands and travel. The other is the featuerette detailing the transition from book to film, giving interviews to the author and others as they discuss the process. Also included are the typical commentary tracks, director diary, etc. which are on most movies; unfortunately, they're rather dull.

If you love action flicks that don't really hold your hand or explain what's going on, you'll love Jumper. It's as popcorny as they come, and makes a nice mindless flick for a hot summer night. If you have a Blu-Ray player and an HDTV, I'd highly recommend the BD version over DVD, if for no other reason the visuals are immensely better. Still, even on DVD Jumper looks great.

CONTENT: 2/5

Jumper is a popcorn flick, plain and simple. You won't talk about it after you watch it, and chances are you won't remember it two years from now. Watch it for some mindless entertainment, and expect nothing more. Sometimes, that's more than enough.

VIDEO: 4/5

Not quite up to the BD's standards, but for a DVD the transition from film to disc was well-handled and had no real noticeable issues.

AUDIO: 3/5

5.1 (which is the average these days), but nothing stands out. There's no real loud action, but nothing falters. The effects sound nice, and the music is decent, but, overall, Jumper's audio is completely middle of the road.

REPLAY: 1/5

If you watch movies with friends to go all MST3K style, this one has much higher replay. Alone, however, you'll watch it once then likely forget about it.

EXTRAS: 3.5/5

The extras you'd expect from a big budget film. The most memorable is a look into the adaptation process, and that will hopefully lead more people to the book (and other books in the future!). The feature with the various locales is also worth a watch for the right crowd.

OVERALL: 3/5

Jumper won't win any awards for being good, but it doesn't need to. It's an up-to-date 80s popcorn flick with good special effects and Samuel L Jackson beating up Anakin. What more could you want?

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