Where The Bucket List was something of a travelogue for the geriatric set, Jumper is something of a travelogue for the teen set. That is pretty much what Jumper boils down to. Sure, it has a bit more action than the terminal cancer driven dramedy, but the end result is about the same — disappointment.

Something like Jumper could have - should have - been an exhilarating, thrill-a-minute ride. It turned out to be all set-up with no payoff. Not only that, but the build seemed to have been written by a first timer with no sense of pacing or logic. I don't mean to come off quite so cynical, but this could have been so much more. On the positive side, the effects are well done, and the look is suitably slick. To that end, I was not completely disappointed, if only for the potential it contains that can be re-written and filled in by your own ideas. I guess you could say that Jumper is a cinematic Mad-Lib.

Going in, Jumper was full of promise and wonder. It promised the world, on a modest budget. It presents an epic battle through time and space with the entire planet as its battleground. The plot description tells of a young man who discovers he has the ability to teleport. He uses this ability, at will, to rob banks and build a comfortable life of leisure for himself. The problem is that this puts him on the radar of a super-secret group called Paladins, who are intent on separating our young hero from his life. And so, our hero finds himself in the midst of a war that has raged for ages, just out of view outside the rest of the world.

Sounds good doesn't it? Makes one wonder where it went so wrong. Was it on the writer's page? In the casting? The directing? I cannot believe that it was any one single element, rather a combination of each puzzle piece working in conjunction to craft the perfect storm of circumstance. I am finding it difficult to know how to go about discussing the film without getting dangerously close to spoiler territory, something I don't want to do.

The screenplay is from David S. Goyer (Batman Begins), Jim Uhls (Fight Club), and Simon Kinberg (X-Men 3: The Last Stand), based on a novel by Steven Gould. Was the problem here? I have not read the novel, so I am not sure how close an adaptation this is to say if the problems originated in the source. I will play it safe and say that the problems began in the adaptation, which is a shame as there is considerable talent on this front.