I'd already seen Jumper in the cinema and wasn't as impressed as I had hoped, but the second viewing on DVD was slightly different and a lot better.

Along with the film on DVD comes some strong extras. So does the DVD improve the film for the second viewing?

Simple plot. A teenager discovers that he can teleport himself at will and uses his power to enjoy life to the fullest. However there are people out there that want Jumpers killed before their powers grow and they have the power to do something dangerous to other humans. Pretty soon they're on his trail, and another Jumper crosses his path and tries to help him.

This was much better on second viewing, perhaps something to do with my preconceptions and hopes for the film being set to the side. It feels much tighter and slicker, and with the added detail on screen and in the audio the film felt much more than it first seemed in the cinema.

For the review of the film itself read the first Filmstalker review from the cinema viewing, but do bear in mind that since I've seen it on a home cinema system I'm much more appreciative of the character and the story.

It's not just that my preconceptions are gone on the second viewing, there are some small subtleties that are missed in the cinema version that appear as bright as day on the DVD, and many of these are in the audio.

The picture is strong and looks great upscaled to 1080p, because of the reliance on real locations and therefore much more realistic lighting, the locations look fantastic on screen with deep and rich backdrops for many of the scenes from the Colosseum to the airport.

Perhaps the most obvious part of seeing the film again on DVD is the audio, it sounds great on a home cinema system with a lot going on at the rear speakers. The music is much more obvious throughout the film, and it shows that the music is great and really well selected for the scenes.

Throughout the film the rear speakers are coming to life, and not just in the big moments of fight scenes or huge jumps. An example is when the camera zooms into a character from above, pushing through the jump scar that they've just created, and as it does you hear faint glances of the audio from the previous shot in the previous location.

It's a very subtle moment but really does show off the work they've done on the audio track and there's been a lot of work to use the spacial aspects of the speakers rather than just throw the odd big sound at them.

Audio Commentary with Doug Liman, Simon Kinberg and Lucas Foster, Jumpstart: David's Story - Animation short, Jumping Around the World featurette, Doug Liman's Jumper: Exposed featurette, Making an Actor Jump featurette, Jumping from Novel to Film: The Past, the Present and Future of Jumper, Deleted Scenes, Previz: Future Concepts

Audio Commentary with Doug Liman, Simon Kinberg and Lucas Foster
The audio commentary is very informative and really does delve into the character and the mind of the Jumper character and their world. There is some discussion of the filming and behind the scenes, but for the main part there's a lot of discussion fleshing out the back story and explaining some of the decisions they made in getting to the final story we see on screen.

Jumpstart: David's Story - Animation short
This is called an Animated graphic novel. I thought about that for a bit and realised it meant cartoon, you can't have a graphic novel that's animated. Anyway, it's an interesting little tale but it's too short and doesn't give us anything on the characters involved.

Jumping Around the World featurette
A featurette that shows us they really did film in real locations and shows us behind the scenes footage from them all, touching on some of the effects and logistical work with the key people involved talking on camera.

Doug Liman's Jumper: Exposed featurette
Tons of footage from behind the scenes here, chronicling some of the shoots on location, some of the difficulties, Liman's unusual way of filming scenes and changing dialogue, and above all showing the reactions of the cast and crew to the film making process. Oh and some ice hockey. Although it's quite chaotic at times there are some funny moments, particularly from Jamie Bell.

Making an Actor Jump featurette
An interesting effects featurette that shows how the jump is actually made, from how the actor behaves and test shots, right through to the WETA work on the jumping car.

Jumping from Novel to Film: The Past, the Present and Future of Jumper
Interestingly this features Steven Gould, the author of the novel, but it concentrates on the work done to build the universe in which this film resides and reveals that they've totally recreated the story and built enough for a trilogy. We also hear from Gould as he talks about the new prequel novel to coincide with the film.

Deleted Scenes
Six deleted scenes to watch, none of which feature any explanation of why they weren't included. A few of the scenes add a little to the story, for instance the first where we see David sleep jumping back home which explains a little about his father's reaction when we do see him returning home in the final film. There's a stereotypical and laughable psychotherapist, and you can see why that was removed, another scene shows us the lab developing the machine to keep jump scars open, as well as a couple of others.

Previz: Future Concepts
This is a rather stunning rendering of a possible future fight between jumpers which really does make you think a trilogy could have a lot to offer. Considering this was all done with very low resolution computing power it's amazing that I was so excited and captivated by it throughout.

I really did enjoy this second viewing, it was definitely an improvement on the cinematic viewing I had. On DVD the film is bolstered by a very well mastered audio track and some extras which help expand and deepen the story, particularly through the deleted scenes which give an added insight into the story.

There's a lot of interesting material on the DVD, and while before I didn't really think that I wanted to see another Jumper film, much less a series, I have to say that I'm now definitely interested and if the story goes the way they're hinting then I'd definitely want to see a trilogy.

Buy or Rent from LOVEFiLM
Buy from Play.com, or
Search for Jumper on Filmstalker stores
UK IMDB Film Details
Filmstalker reviews Jumper