The Jacket [DVD] [2005]

The Jacket is directed by John Maybury and written by Massy Tadjedin. It stars Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Daniel Craig and Kelly Lynch. Music is by Brian Eno and cinematography by Peter Deming. Film is loosely based on a true story that would make up the novel of the same name written by Jack London in 1915 (known as The Star Rover in America).Jack Starks (Brody) is serving in the Gulf War when he suffers a bullet wound to the head. Making a recovery but suffering with amnesia, he returns to Vermont. But an incident out on the snowy road will see Jack accused of murder and placed in an asylum. Here he is pumped full of drugs by a well meaning doctor (Kristofferson) and after being fitted with a straight-jacket, he's then placed into mortuary body chamber to hopefully aid his mental welfare.......The Jacket is an odd film in many ways, most pertinent is that it is easy to pigeonhole in terms of genre familiarity, yet still have a freshness in how it goes about unravelling its time travelling mystery. There have been a number of dramatic-come-weird time travelling movies brought to the screen over the decades, some edgy and great, while others have been known to have some sci-fi purists spitting feathers. In more modern day cinema we have seen prior to The Jacket's release, 12 Monkeys, The Butterfly Effect, Donnie Darko and Jacobs Ladder, and post it there has been Déjà Vu and Source Code. While we can comfortably add Primer and Memento into this interesting group of films. The question is, is The Jacket worth the interest of the film fan after a bit of time travelling weirdness?Well it has some problems, main one being that in spite of it gnawing away at the grey matter, the plot is simple and telegraphs the finale some way before it arrives: sadly tying things up too neatly after blurring our perceptions of Jack Stark's current state of mind. In fact, calling it a conventional murder mystery wrapped around one mans possible time travelling psychosis isn't far off the mark. But it does have the power to unnerve, weaving a tale that pulses with paranoia, self doubt and that thick atmospheric air that begs the question on what is real and what isn't? Maybury and Deming give it a smart muted colour sheen, cleverly reinforcing emotional states of characters, and the cast, led by a smartly reigned in performance from Brody, all give good value for money.The journey undertaken by Jack marks this out as a must see for fans of similar filmed treatments, the final destination, sadly, not so. 7/10

"The Jacket" is a film about a man who, after being found in the proximity of the body of a murdered cop and with no memory of what happened, is cleared of the murder on insanity grounds and placed in a sanitarium under a doctor's cruel and controversial regime. While undergoing a depraved experimental "therapy" by way of a method known as "the Jacket" - essentially involving placement in a morgue cabinet for hours on end - he finds himself able to leap 'outside' of his own life and death. Moving between past and future he pieces together clues from both to help him understand what really happened in his past, and what might happen in the future. In this much it follows in a similar vein to films such as "The I Inside" and "Memento".There are enjoyable performances from the two leads. Adrien Brody (who must have the largest nose in Hollywood) plays the frustrated and disorientated victim of the medical regime, making us sympathetic to his plight; and Keira Knight, who plays the girl who takes him in, gives a good performance as the sultry daughter of an alchoholic that Brody's character first meets when she's a child, prior to him being locked up.Unfortunately the story confuses itself somewhat towards the end, a common problem with "time paradox" scenarios; if this problem was removed however, you'd end up with a more sombre "Donnie Darko" ending rather than the one we get.Despite this however I found "The Jacket" a really enjoyable watch, so I'm giving it five stars for enjoyment value. As an aside, there is only one mention of "Gulf War Syndrome" right at the very beginning, and the protagonist's former occupation as a soldier is really just incidental to what is otherwise a supernatural fantasy; it's no war movie!

I found this 2005 supernatural thriller quite watchable, but nothing more. Below, more of my impressions, with some limited SPOILERS.Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) used to be a soldier - but in 1991, during the "Desert Storm" operation, he was shot in the head and barely survived. Discharged from the army for medical reasons he found it difficult to settle down and the film really begins when he travels through Vermont in 1992, hitchhiking. Because of events which I will not describe here, at one moment he will ultimately find himself committed to a mental institution and a quite strange doctor (Kris Kristofferson) will try on him a kind of revolutionary but extremely unpleasant therapy - which will include, as the title indicates, the use of straitjacket...Later in the film we will also meet another doctor, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, another inmate played by Daniel Craig and also a mysterious young woman played by Keira Knightley - and there will be also some slightly supernatural/SF elements...It is not a bad film and I am glad that I discovered it, but it is definitely not too good either. The plot is ultimately rather banal, the solution of all the problems not so great and there are obvious plot holes you could put a star-destroyer through. The "romance" between two of the characters is also incredibly artificial... And there is no real ending and no real closure.The quality of the film is in the performance given by the five main actors, four of whom were already experienced screen veterans and one (Keira Knightley) a very promising rising young star. The heavy and occasionally creepy atmosphere of the film as well as THE TWIST which happens in 31st minute are other strong points.All in all, it is an interesting, watchable curiosity, a kind of extended episode of "Outer Limits". It is however a thing to see once - I don't think I will keep my DVD.