As David Rice (Hayden Christensen) is growing up he discovers that he has the ability to teleport. Feeling no ties to home after being brought up by his angry and bitter dad, Rice follows temptation and sets himself up for life by robbing the odd bank or two. However, it turns out that he’s not the only teleporter around, and worse yet not everyone believes the ability to flit in and out of places is such a good idea. Rice finds himself a target of Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), a man with murderous intent who doesn’t mind if Rice’s childhood sweetheart (Rachel Bilson) gets in the way.

I have no idea why I decided to watch this film. It looked to me like an all out kids movie lurking at the end of the new releases shelf and to be honest I had zero expectations as I flicked on the Dvd player. Yet against all odds, I really enjoyed this film. I’m not a huge fan of Christensen or Bilson, and I was worried that Samuel L. Jackson would be portraying one of those evil obsessed characters that he seems to be typecast as these days. And, even though Jackson is stuck with the same role again, it doesn’t seem to matter. I didn’t even mind the cheesy voice over at the start that introduces us to the action.

I think Max Thieriot did this film a lot of favors by playing the vulnerable young Rice discovering the quirks of teleportation. He gave the character a solid base which made the transition to Rice’s later life a lot easier to watch. Christensen does a relaxed job of guiding Rice through his more selfish antics without really building up any chemistry with Bilson. Jamie Bell isn’t too over the top as the other teleporter battling back against the Roland’s Paladin army.

Acting aside, this is one of those movies that relies heavily on the special effects department. They handle the teleportation sequences really well, and the director Doug Liman uses them to clever effect throughout the actions scenes. The film is well paced without any real lulls between the action shots.

I suppose the most important part of watching this movie is realizing that it is complete and utter hokum. There isn’t much attempt to explain why Rice and others have this ability, or why Roland is so outraged that they should have such a gift. It was as if no one really had the answers. We just have to accept that Roland is blinded by righteousness and no one Rice meets seems able to explain.

I was pleasantly surprised that this movie was as entertaining as it was. A lot is down to the casualness of Christensen coupled with the scrapbook of well known locations around the world. The special effects of the fights scenes employing teleportation to it’s limits does a lot to make this movie watchable. There’s not much to offend and I’ve no doubt there will be a sequel that might perhaps deliver the answers that weren’t in the this one.