Jumper Lands With a Thud

The concept for Jumper seems promising: An awkward teenage boy who discovers he has the power to instantly teleport himself to anywhere on the globe is targeted for elimination by religious fanatics. And in some respects the film delivers on that promise. "The jumping effect is faultlessly executed," writes Empire's Olly Richards, adding that the movie "packs some cracking action" into its relatively short 88-minute running time.

But, observes Michael Rechtshaffen of the Hollywood Reporter: "All the state-of-the-art visual effects in the world can't compensate for spotty plotting and bland characters that prevent an intriguing premise from going the distance." Beyond that, "It doesn't help that the performances are bland," writes USA Today's Claudia Puig, particularly by leading man Hayden Christensen. (More Samuel L. Jackson stories.)