Much like predecessor Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen‘s career arguably never recovered from the constant pillorying he took from fans and critics for his performance as Anakin Skywalker. While the actor was very wooden a lot of the time, matters weren’t helped by the clunky and ham-fisted dialogue penned by George Lucas that he was forced to recite with a straight face.
Things almost always end up coming full circle eventually, and Christensen will be heading back to a galaxy far, far away in Disney Plus series Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it’s no coincidence that it marks his highest-profile role in a long time. Shortly after the Sequel Trilogy had concluded, it looked as though the young star may have been in with a shot at establishing himself outside of Star Wars, thanks to an acclaimed turn in drama Shattered Glass and the lead role in high concept action thriller Jumper.
Planned as the first installment in a franchise, Doug Liman’s brisk caper had an interesting conceit that followed Christensen’s David Rice mastering his ability to teleport anywhere his imagination allows him to, with Samuel L. Jackson’s nefarious Roland hot on his tail.
Jumper was a big success at the box office after earning $225 million globally, but critics only deemed it worthy of a 15% Rotten Tomatoes score. The sequel never happened, but the movie has rebounded on the Netflix most-watched chart as per FlixPatrol, having cracked the Top 10.
