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He can move anywhere in space, from the Taj Mahal to Amsterdam, in the blink of an eye. He’s a Jumper, and if he’s not careful, he’s a dead man.

Hayden Christiansen plays David Rice, a young man with a genetic abnormality – he can teleport, a skill that lands him in the middle of a war between Jumpers and Paladins – the people who hunt down Jumpers, for seemingly no other reason than the fact that they can Jump (or, as Sam Jackson’s Roland puts it, they have powers only God should have).

David’s childhood wasn’t the nicest, though there was one bright spot in it – Millie Harris, played by Rachel Bilson (The O.C.). When Roland catches up to David, its to Millie that he goes, sweeping her into a romantic trip to Rome that quickly turns dangerous. David meets Griffin, another Jumper, who introduces him to the concept of Paladins and the war (during a fight with said Paladins). Soon enough, David is in over his head, and it’s a fight to live all around.

First things first: the special effects of the jumps are flawless. Scenes such as Griffin’s driving in Tokyo are amazing, and even jumps as mundane as David getting a glass of juice from the fridge looked pretty cool. The gust of wind left in a jump’s wake also had flair, not to mention any jump involving water (and they seemed pretty conscious of this – jumps involving water happened pretty regularly).

Hayden Christianson took some pretty serious flak after Star Wars, and it was good to see that his acting chops have developed somewhat. Rachel Bilson is just as cute as ever, and Jamie Bell, who played the mischievous and socially alienated Griffin, brought a good deal of spark to the film. Sam Jackson needs no praise; he is a force to be reckoned with.

The film is fun and exciting, and sets itself up for sequels. The only unfortunate thing about the idea of a sequel is that I watched the bonus footage. Never in my life have bonus features ruined a movie for me. Never, that is, until now.

I’m just going to say it – Doug Liman is an arrogant, egocentric asshole. In every bonus feature (and there are many), he spoke (in great length) about what a wonderful director he is. He literally turned my stomach, and all I could think of was that a man who spent the last few years directing episodes of The O.C. shouldn’t brag that much. Sure, he directed Bourne Identity, but not any of the sequels. And if, as he put it, he re-invented the spy movie with Bourne Identity and the superhero movie with Jumper (I swear to God, he actually said that), why didn’t he work on the sequels?

Perhaps Jumper’s history can shed some light on the kind of director he is. Liman recast the movie at least once (after having shot some footage, no less). He reworked the script over and over again, to the point where writers were cranking out shooting scripts the morning scenes were scheduled to be shot. He tricked people into giving him access into the Coliseum he shouldn’t have had. The film took longer to make than scheduled. No matter how pretty the film was, this smacks of a bad director.

Liman delivers all of this information with ease. He spends almost all of the featurettes yammering about himself; “Doug Liman Unrated” might as well be called “Behind the Scenes of an Ego”. “Doug Liman’s Jumper: Uncensored”, “Jumping Around the World”, “Making an Actor Jump” – they’re all testaments to Liman’s obnoxious nature. “Jumping Around the World” serves as a travel diary, where “Making an Actor Jump” is, obviously, a special effects bit. Liman did let this little gem go, while ranting about visual effects: “If I actually could have cast a teleporter, I would have done that and not had any visual effects”. Thanks a lot, Doug. That means absolutely nothing.

There is an animated graphic novel called “Jumpstart” – it’s not so great, but not awful, either. There are seven deleted scenes, in which we get to see David pee and jump, drink juice and jump, and pack and jump. There is also one spectacularly bad deleted scene in which Roland is humanized somewhat through interaction with his daughter – a horrible move. The only decent bonus feature, in my mind, was “Previz: Future Concepts”. It is a rough visual effects bit, mapping out a future fight scene. When this scene is properly finished, I suspect it will be nothing short of spectacular.

Though the movie is decent, the bonus features grind down good feelings towards the film bit by bit. After watching everything, I (sadly) categorize Jumper as a miss.

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