It's been going great for a decade plus, but things are about to change. David discovers he's not the only one of his kind, courtesy of a snarky, devil-may-care Jumper named Griffin (Bell). He learns that figures called Paladins, led by Roland (Jackson), believe that only God should wield such powers and that the Paladins want every Jumper dead.

Complicating matters, David only recently reunited with Millie (Bilson), the girl he left behind, and now she's embroiled deep, deep in the mess.

Jump elsewhere before it's too late

There's so much wrong with Jumper, it's hard to decide where to begin. There's a frantic, rushed air to the film, yet it's a dull 90-or-so-minute ride, despite stellar visual effects and a great array of picturesque locations (including the Colosseum in Italy and the pyramids of Egypt). Christensen can act. He proved that in My Life as a House and Shattered Glass, and he displays flashes of charm here, but little energy to match. He's most alive in his scenes with Bilson and especially Bell; in fact, Bell is the best thing in the movie, unpredictable, lending some urgency to the exposition he's called upon to deliver and rattling off smartass quips with aplomb.

Bilson is OK, but she's saddled with some chuckle-inducing damsel-in-distress dialogue (and AnnaSophia Robb, who plays the young version of Millie, actually comes off better). Jackson, his hair dyed white, goes bug-eyed and shouts his dialogue; no effort is made to explain Roland's motivations beyond the obvious. Actually, the Roland character is just plain ridiculous. He flashes whatever badge is necessary to assume command of a situation and, sure enough, everyone cedes control. Yeah, right. He brutally kills one Jumper, but what's up with the savagery (that seriously pushes the teen-friendly PG-13 rating to its limit)? He gets David in his grasp but is so busy pontificating and branding David an abomination that he blows the opportunity to kill the guy.

As if all that weren't enough, the story makes little sense as it flits by, and if you stop to give it too much thought your head might explode. Griffin has watched David "jump" for years, but the Paladins are only finding him now? Unsuspecting people wind up thrown halfway around the world. What happens to them? How do they get home? And what crazy tales do they tell their families and the authorities? At one point, David's gray shirt looks fine, and then we see it spattered with water or dirt. Then it's ripped, and finally it's perfect again. It's possible these are simply continuity problems, but it feels more like Liman lopped off whole scenes to shorten the running time. Diane Lane turns up briefly, to negligible effect, and there's an unexpected cameo that will likely induce a few double-takes. And the ending, eesh. Jumper just stops. One character appears to vanish. Another, given all that's come before, should frankly be dead. And yet another risks his or her life to visit a relative ... and set the stage for a sequel.