Doug Liman's Jumper

In director Doug Liman's adaptation of Steven Gould's young-adult sci-fi novels, Hayden Christensen stars as David Rice, a teen who discovers he has the ability to "teleport" himself anywhere in the world. So David leaves home, robs a few banks, and grows up to live his life like an American Express commercial. He does find some time to woo his former high-school sweetheart (Rachel Bilson) and pulverize his old playground nemesis, but only after spending the morning sipping tea atop the Sphinx and surfing a wicked swell in Fiji. And yet, Jumper wants you to root for this guy as he finds his privileged existence endangered by the grizzled jumper-hunter Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), who's on hand mainly to snarl lines like "I hate jumpers." If you're wondering just how it is that the jumpers do what they do, or why Roland is so eager to snuff them out . . . well, tune in to our next episode, because Liman leaves those questions (and the fates of the major characters) hanging. It's a feature-length teaser for a never-to-be sci-fi franchise.