The Jacket (2005)

Originally Reviewed

Monday May 30, 2005

The Jacket is probably one of the strangest films I have ever seen, and when I say strange I literally mean out there, X-files style. At the same time this is what makes the film so unique and different, it starts off completely boring and meaningless, then wham! Watch out!

Adrien Brody is, Jack Starks, a soldier whose been shot in the head during battle and presumed to be dead, that is until he seemingly makes a miraculous recovery. But he has no memories of who he is or his past life, all he has is his army dog tags. He's discharged from the army and sent home, basically the army kicks him to the curb and he has to start hitchhiking. He comes upon this woman and her daughter on the side of the road, their car broken down. The mother is a real piece of work as she's wasted and high, but the little girl is real friendly and she asks Starks about his dog tags, he tells her they are in case he gets lost or forgets who he is. She asks for them and he gives them to her, he fixes their car, the mother cusses him out and drives off, (like I said she's a piece of work).  Starks continues on his way and this being his lucky day gets picked up by another nutcase who gets pulled over by a police officer and shoots the cop. The guy runs off and Starks is charged for the murder! Starks then goes to trial and is found not guilty due to insanity, his lawyers claimed he didn't know what he was doing because he had been shot in the head during battle and it affect his cognitive ability.

Sent off to a clinic for the insane, Starks is given drugs, put in a straight jacket and shoved into a morgue box, as "treatment". Some how this transports him into the future, whether it's the drugs, the jacket or the combination of everything along with his brain injury. He's transported to future where he reunites with the little girl he met on the road, but she is now in her twenties and a mess like her mother, who ironically fell asleep with a cigarette in her hand and set herself on fire! The girl now played by Keira Knightley, offers to give Starks a ride. Starks doesn't realized who she is until they're back at her house and he sees his dog tags and a picture of her as a child. He brings this up and she freaks out, thinking he's crazy and tells him Starks is dead. About this time he wakes up in the morgue box.

Realizing that somehow the jacket and the morgue transfers him into the future he no longer fights it when it comes time for the "treatment".  Instead he takes the opportunity to try and figure out how and when he is going to die, so that he can possibly prevent it from happening. Through this and more encounters with Keira's character he realizes how screwed up she is, and how her mother tainted her, in the end he tries to change the present in hopes of her having a better future.

That's all I will say without completely spoiling the story. It's a mind-blowing film that brings up a lot of questions and some things don't make much sense, possibly requiring multiple viewings.  If you're interested I suggest you watch it the first time through to let everything sink in, don't try to understand everything, then go back and watch it again. What I found ironic about this film is that Starks is really the only one in the film who isn't crazy, it's everyone in my opinion who is, and I think you will see what I mean.

People have compared this film to the Butterfly Effect with Aston Kutcher, and in a way I can kind of see some of the similarities, at least the time travel aspect, but other than that they are very different.  In my opinon The Jacket is much better written, and acted.  I hated the Butterfly Effect, only able to make it half way through it because it was such a sick, twisted film that was far from entertaining.  The Jacket has good acting by both Brody and Knightley, and a strange yet interesting story which will have you scratching your head in the first twenty minutes and thoroughly engrossed the rest of the time.

8/10

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