Based on a novel by Steven Gould, “Jumper” is a predominantly nonsensical sci-fi thriller that might have started out with a coherent plotline, but instead in the hands of screenwriters David S. Goyer, Jim Uhls and Simon Kinberg, suffers miserably from a disjointed and vacant script. Director Doug Liman pulls off a few slick special effects by employing the use of CGI, but never quite gets his cast or the fragmented story to work.

When an awkward teenager, David (Hayden Christensen) discovers that he has the ability to teleport himself out of a compromising situation, he quickly ditches his unpleasant home life and opts for personal and financial freedom by robbing a bank vault.

Six years later David lives in a lavish apartment and spends his days as a teleporting “jumper” cavorting around the world. One day he is confronted by Roland (Samuel L. Jackson) a menacing figure and “jumper hunter” who on a lead regarding the bank robbery has miraculously tracked David down with the intention of killing him.

Narrowly escaping, David returns to his hometown and although he realizes he’s being pursued by Roland, he makes a strange choice to reconnect with his old girlfriend, Millie (Rachel Bilson). On a whim he invites her to accompany him to Rome, which immediately puts her life in jeopardy, too. Along the line he discovers that he is not the only “jumper” and that apparently Roland heads up the Paladins, an organization committed to ridding the world of the “evil” time travelers.

Now on the run, the clueless couple basically spends the rest of the movie in one long chase scene as the tenacious Roland and his gang, inexplicably manage to hunt down the pair. Eventually the bad guys get obliterated, and David and Millie teleport off into the “sunset."

“Jumper” is not a complimentary vehicle for either Christensen or Jackson (who sports a spooky and distracting snow-white coiffure). The picture lacks any sense of character development or the exposition needed to tie the elements of an engaging fantasy together. A disturbing cameo by Diane Lane as David’s mother (also a Paladin) serves only to further convolute issues in “Jumper’s” relatively short 88-minute running time. Expect this film to make a swift transport from theaters to DVD shelves.

(1 1/2 stars out of 4.)

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