Jumper 3D Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Jumper 3D Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 16, 2013

Jumper might seem to be simultaneously a weird choice and a smart choice for a 3D post-conversion. Weird, because the film certainly was met with less than uniformly positive reviews and United States box office receipts that didn’t even match the film’s hefty production costs (Jumper did considerably better in overseas markets). Smart, because the film is stuffed full of cool visual effects as it details the adventures of a “jumper”, a kid who is able to teleport to various exotic world locales.

Because this review will focus almost exclusively on the film's 3D upgrade, I'll refer any readers who would like a complete wrap up of Jumper's plot and other technical data to my colleague Marty Liebman's review of the original 2D release:

Jumper Blu-ray review

Jumper 3D Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Perhaps surprisingly, Jumper's MVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 is a less than visually immersive experience. The first thing videophiles will recognize is that the aspect ratio of this film has been altered for this release from the original Blu-ray 2.35:1 offering. While that supposedly will "fill up" the screen on flatscreens, it also means framing has changed from the original release (a quick comparison of both releases shows information missing from the sides of the frame). That said, what's left is rather unexpectedly flat looking a lot of the time. The post conversion has actually fared better in some of its more subtle techniques than in the flashier special effects sequence, which again may raise a few eyebrows. Scenes where characters are simply talking or moving slowly through the frame show a subtle those noticeable dimensionality, while some of the big effects shots, notably the first episode of "jumping", when the young David (Max Theriot) ends up in a library with "teleportation waves" (for want of a better term) emanating all around him, it's a curiously and resolutely 2D experience. When we get to the bulk of the film, featuring Hayden Christensen as the grown up David, things are frankly not much better. While there are some decent effects, as when Samuel L. Jackson's launches a taser wire at David, there's decent if not overwhelming spatial depth. But a lot of the big action sequences never really pop dimensionally the way one might expect them to, and for one salient reason: director Doug Liman simply seems incapable of keeping his camera still for even a moment. While Jumper thankfully doesn't indulge in what I like to call "shaky cam" that much of the time, Liman just exploits a relentlessly hyperkinetic style that sees the frame zooming here, panning there, with nary a moment for the eyes to anchor on anything, let alone to develop a perspective which would allow true 3D dimensionality to poke through.

For the record, there's also an AVC encoded 2D version of the film accessible on the same disc.

Jumper 3D Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio mix here sounds identical to the one Marty reviewed on the 2D release.

Jumper 3D Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are offered on this Blu-ray disc.

Jumper 3D Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I hadn't seen Jumper since its original Blu-ray release, and I have to say I was even more underwhelmed this time than when I first saw it. The film has a great premise but fails to really realize its potential. Unfortunately, that's also true of its new 3D post- conversion.