The Jacket
THE JACKET (15)
D: John Maybury
Warner Bros/Mandalay/2929 (Peter Guber, George Clooney &
Steven Soderbergh)
US/UK/Germany 2004 (released 2005)
98 mins
Thriller/Science Fiction
W: Massy Tadjedin
DP: Peter Deming
Ed: Emma Hickox
Mus: Brian Eno
PD: Alan MacDonald
Adrien Brody (Jack Starks), Keira Knightley (Jackie Price),
Kris Kristofferson (Dr. Becker), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Dr. Lorenson), Kelly Lynch (Jean Price)
The Jacket is a curious mix of psychological thriller, science
fiction, war and even romance which is initially difficult to follow due to the jumbled chronology of the events which transpire.
Gulf war veteran Jack Starks finds himself in a mental asylum,
where he is subjected to an experimental method where he is bound in a straightjacket and confined to morgue locker, where he appears to have vivid hallucinations of time travel. It soon becomes
apparent the his visions of the future are real, and he uses this gift to solve the mystery of his own death, with the help of an alcoholic woman whom he once helped when she was a
child.
The plot was clearly inspired by Twelve Monkeys (qv), but
isn't quite as polished, offering no explanation for Jack's abilities other than being a science experiment.
Enjoyable, once you understand what is going on and will be
recommended to those who enjoy similar films, such as the above mentioned Twelve Monkeys or Altered States, which have variants on a similar theme.
Those expecting a horror may be disappointed. It doesn't fall
into that particular genre, despite being marketed as one.
6/10
