Customer Reviews

The Jacket

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(58)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Maybe it was the advertising that killed this movie in the theatre before it even got a fair chance. I saw this before it was released at the Sundance film festival and knew that it would be a hard one to sell to people not because it wasn't good but because it didn't fit in to a usual Hollywood classification. Sure enough, I was right. They made it look like a horror movie and it is definitely not that. I'd call it a thriller with sci fi overtones. Sort of a Twilight Zone episode if you had to label it.
Great performances by a strong cast plus an interesting plot propel this over most movies that come out in the theatres these days. In some respects it's even better than The Butterfly Effect (which had a simular plot) especially because it has a strong lead where as B.E did not.
Given a chance with different marketing this could have been big. So check it out on DVD now!

Out of the proverbial left field, this movie ended up in my husband's vast dvd collection. I'd never heard of it. He popped it into the dvd player and I found myself immediately engrossed in the slow unfolding of a wonderfully played tale. This Adrien Brody guy is fascinating to watch; I don't know why I don't hear about him more often (see 'Dummy'). Now, I love myself a good time-travel story, and I think giving you that much information may already be too much, because you should discover it on your own. Also, I am capable of nit-picking my way through an implausible film unmercilessly (see 'Stigmata'), but this story was very easy to swallow, and it was quite engaging. I found myself thinking about it days afterward, which is the hallmark of a good film for me. If you need explosions and big action to keep you in the moment, then this probably isn't for you. But if you can be patient and allow a story to unravel itself through strong characterizations and simple dialogues, I think you will be satisfied.

I must agree with the previous reviewer...the trailer looks like a horror movie, but this is actually a very facinating movie. I'm a complete chicken (don't like horror movies) and I found this movie to be very engrossing. Probably not for everyone (my wife wouldn't like it, I think...), but if you like modern fiction with a twist, this is the movie for you.

I bought this movie after I saw it on HBO because it was so good that I wanted to have it in my collection. It starts off slow and depressing and I almost gave up on it but I'm glad I didn't because it is a superior movie, well worth buying and watching. I don't want to tell you anything about it because that's how I saw it and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here lately, the best way to find the boldest, darkest, most intellectually challenging films is to follow Jennifer Jason Leigh. Having watched The Machinist and The Jacket back to back, I feel a whole lot better about the future of motion pictures than I used to. There are actually scriptwriters and directors out there that are almost as dark and twisted as I am. Of course, The Jacket is primarily a showpiece for Adrien Brody, who gives a marvelous, haunting performance as Jack Starks, an ill-fated man who comes to know the past through the future - it's rather complicated (but it all makes sense in the end).

Starks' problems begin when a little Iraqi kid plugs him in the head as his unit is trying to control a crowd during a combat mission in the Gulf War. He is left for dead and may in fact have died (but I don't want to get into a tricky metaphysical discussion on this point). Then, it's a year later and we see Jack walk down a wintry road and help a woman and daughter get their car started - a seemingly innocuous event but one of great importance in this story. Then Jack bums a ride with a stranger, the car gets pulled over by a policeman, and the next thing Jack knows, he's on trial for killing a cop. No one believes his story, much of which he doesn't remember anyway, and there's no denying the fact that he suffered a serious head injury in the war, so he ends up being confined in a mental institution for the criminally insane. There are definitely some insane people at the institution - unfortunately, some of them are on the staff.

I'm still trying to figure out who told Kris Kristofferson he could act, but he shows up here as Dr. Mengel- uh, I mean Dr. Becker. His idea of treatment is shooting Jack up with some kind of hallucinatory drug, confining him in a straight jacket (you didn't think the title referred to a Members Only jacket, did you?), and shutting him up in a morgue drawer for hours on end. As a claustrophobic, that gives me all kinds of heebie jeebies, let me tell you. The thing is, though, that Jack starts seeing things while he's stuck in there - fragmented memories come at him a mile a minute, and in time he begins to see the future. He meets up with the little girl (Jackie) he helped earlier in the film (who grew up quite nicely into Keira Knightley) - only it's 2007, which is fifteen years in Jack's future. Actually, you can't really say it's Jack's future because he finds out that he died (or will die) on New Year's Day of 1993. Finding out you're dead is a bit of a shock, of course, so he tries to find out exactly how he died - his only hope to learn the truth is his link to 2007 and Jackie - and he can only see that future world while he is in the jacket and in that dark place. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a less evil doctor in the institution who comes to share a special bond with Jack (one she is reluctant to accept at first). Hey, it's not easy for a guy in a mental institution to convince one of his doctors that he is seeing the future.

Things get rather complicated, as you might imagine, but the movie handles the time issue wonderfully, and the whole movie really does make perfect sense. Maybe they stretch things a tad at the very end, but it's not a problem. The Jacket isn't for everyone; it's too dark and mysterious to satisfy those looking for pure entertainment. For the serious-minded viewer who loves dark sojourns into the depths of human thought and possibilities, however, The Jacket is a movie you'll be telling all of your like-minded friends about.

The preview trailers for THE JACKET made the film look like another Hollywood horror movie (heavy on movie stars and bloated budgets... but very weak on any actual "horror") so I stayed away from this one when it was in theaters.

Then I saw this DVD... and I was absolutely blown away. I'm a big horror movie fan, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that THE JACKET is not really a horror film. Instead, it is a very intelligently-written, extremely well-acted, and beautifully photographed love story with an intriguing sci-fi edge.

Adrian Brody (who starred in one of the best films of the past ten years, THE PIANIST) stars with Keira Knightley (who starred in one of the worst movies of the past ten years, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN) and their on-screen chemistry forms the backbone of THE JACKET. Brody, again, proves he is one of the best actors working today. Knightly proves she is a much better actress than PIRATES would lead you to believe. Not to mention she is absolutely gorgeous. Kris Kristofferson is also a highlight of THE JACKET's cast, creating an incredibly real and dynamic character who walks a thin line between good guy and bad guy.

Director John Maybury has been jabbed at for being heavy-handed and over-indulgent with his "style" in THE JACKET... but c'mon, people... this is a MOVIE. Last time I checked, movies were a VISUAL medium. If you don't want creative, stylistic visuals, read a book or go see a play. In my opinion, Maybury's often criticized visual style gave much atmosphere to THE JACKET, creating a captivating environment for the viewer to be drawn into. I enjoy movies that are far more stylized than THE JACKET (like BEGOTTEN, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, AMELIE, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, Coppola's DRACULA, etc.) so, by comparison, THE JACKET didn't seem all that over-the-top visually to me. But I thought Maybury's visual style was one of the strongest aspects of the film.

Producers Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney wanted to give an art film director a proper Hollywood budget and THE JACKET was the result. A poor marketing effort kept many from seeing this film in theaters, and perhaps the American filmgoers - bloated from a steady unhealthy diet of typical Hollywood big-budget garbage - just couldn't get into a movie with a unique artistic flair. In the end, THE JACKET was a financial failure. It is unlikely that such a substantial budget will be put behind such an artistic film again anytime soon. So pick up THE JACKET on DVD and enjoy. The movie is a rare example of what Hollywood SHOULD be making.

Here is a rather horrifying thought: how would you like it if someone put you in a straight jacket, bound your feet, then put you in the drawer of a morgue and left you there for hours? What's that you, you say? You'd rather not sample that particular adventure? Neither would I. However, it's the basic premise of this movie.

Surprisingly enough, the movie actually turns out to be rather upbeat in spite of this fact. Of course, it's upbeat in a rather twisted, bizarre sort of way. It is kind of a cross between a ghost story and a time travel movie. And, yes, the movie is as weird as that sounds, although weird doesn't make it not worth seeing.

Of course, the biggest feature of this film is Keira Knightley. She adds a great deal of flavor to a movie that looks for all the world like it's going to be a real downer.

If you're into movies that are not afraid to be classified as "experimental," you may well want to check this one out. If you're not claustrophobic, you will be perfect for viewing this film!!

What's up with Adrien Brody playing guys named Jack? First he played Jack the slippery con artist in LOVE THE HARD WAY, this spring he was seen briefly in theaters as amnesiac Gulf War veteran/accused murderer/asylum inmate/time traveler Jack Starks in THE JACKET, and Brody just wrapped Peter Jackson's (another Jack, sorta :-) KING KONG remake, due for Christmas season release, in which he plays playwright-turned-unlikely-hero Jack Driscoll. Is this Jack motif a superstition with Brody, like Paul Newman and his string of "H" movies (THE HUSTLER, HUD, HOMBRE, HARPER, HARRY & SON)? Indeed, THE JACKET is chock-full of Jacks, in its title, its hero, and even love interest Jackie (Keira Knightley, looking like a cross between Helena Bonham Carter in FIGHT CLUB and Winona Ryder in BEETLEJUICE. Boy, her voice is deep when she's doing an American accent! :-). Too bad the folks at Warner Independent Pictures didn't know jack about properly publicizing THE JACKET, which opened with an anemic $2 million at the box office and only sank further. According to THE NEW YORK TIMES, the studio spent $10 million on advertising (acting like it was a big deal. I bet that's a fraction of the advertising budget that Universal will use on KING KONG...but I digress...), but they certainly didn't use it wisely. I didn't notice any TV commercials, newspaper/magazine ads, or posters at theaters for the film until the week it opened, and the advertising art was the ugliest, most unenticing imagery I've ever seen for a major release. There were magazine/newspaper interviews with Brody and with Keira Knightley in magazines and on TV *after* the film had already opened (unless you happen to have The Sundance Channel, in which case perhaps you caught Alan Cumming's brief interview with the JACKET cast and director at the Sundance Film Festival during their FESTIVAL DAILIES series), but it was too little, too late.

It's a shame, because while THE JACKET is flawed, even derivative -- it could have been titled TWELVE MONKEYS CLIMB JACOB'S LADDER SOMEWHERE IN TIME AND EXPERIENCE THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT -- it's nevertheless a compelling, emotionally-charged viewing experience, showcasing Brody in his best intelligent, angst-ridden, Young Pacino/DeNiro mode. Brody is one of the few actors around who movingly portrays anguish without chewing the scenery. (One nice, if slightly offbeat detail: as Brody lies on his back sobbing in one scene, you can actually see the poor man's tears dripping into his ears. And hey, is it me, or does Brody's angular face look like a theatrical tragedy mask when he's really crying his eyes out? I noticed that in THE PIANIST, too. Details like that intrigue me!) Certainly far worse thrillers have made a profit at the box office, or at least had a strong opening weekend. The atmosphere is appropriately eerie, and the trippy story sure keeps you guessing in a good way, even though some of the plot threads and possibilities aren't quite followed up on. For example, I half-expected Jackie to turn out to be a figment of Jack's imagination or his feminine side or something because of the similar names. It looks like it was simply a lack of naming imagination on the part of screenwriter Massy Tadjedin, working from a story by Tom Bleecker and Marc Rocco -- unless the upcoming DVD includes deleted scenes that prove my original theory right! :-) Brody and Knightley have a tender chemistry in their love scenes; I can see why there were rumors of a romance between the two during filming. In interviews, director John Maybury has described Brody as having a "Valentino-like" quality in these poignant yet sexy scenes, and I agree. Brody and Knightley are ably supported by a fine cast, particularly Kris Kristofferson as the sinister doctor, Jennifer Jason Leigh as the sympathetic doctor, and Daniel Craig as one of Brody's fellow inmates. One of the film's highlights is a loopy scene at a group therapy session in which Craig and Brody spout off about "The Organization for the Organized." It made me want to see Brody (and for that matter, Craig) star in a really good comedy one of these days! At its best, THE JACKET feels like one of those Japanese horror films in the RING/GRUDGE mold. At its worst, however, it feels like Maybury didn't trust the busy storyline and fine performances to hold viewers' attention, piling on weird visual F/X that, though interesting for being inspired by experimental and silent films, struck me as more distracting than enhancing (perhaps Maybury was inspired by Michel Gondry's similarly distracting directorial style in ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND :-). Ironically, while Maybury's bells and whistles occasionally provide arresting imagery, particularly his use of color, I usually found the atmosphere and stark beauty of the outdoor scenery (Scotland does a fine job of standing in for snowy Vermont) much more emotionally resonant. Brian Eno's pretty yet vaguely spooky score helps, too; stay through the end credits or you'll miss Iggy Pop's (!) soulful rendition of "We Have All the Time in the World." Ah, well, maybe THE JACKET will develop a cult following, or at least do better on home video. I see they're using more attractive, compelling art for the packaging, which certainly couldn't hurt! As far as Adrien Brody's movie hit track record is concerned, here's hoping KING KONG is a king-size smash to make up for it! :-)

We know Jack Starks is a genuinely good person from the first time we see him. During the first Gulf War, he ceases shooting Iraqis because there is a boy among the men. Following the maxim that sometimes bad things happen to good people, he ends up severely wounded and shipped back home. Going from bad to worse, he is wrongly convicted of killing a police officer after he is released from the hospital and is sent to a sanitarium for treatment. Part of this treatment entails being injected with an experimental drug, restrained by a straight jacket and confined in a metal drawer for a period of time. While in the drawer, Starks can see the future very distinctly. I won't reveal specifically what he does with this ability, though I will say that what he chooses to do is consistent with his munificent nature and makes a positive difference. Adrien Brody plays Starks with the requisite sympathy, proving throughout the film he is an actor with serious plans for longevity. The (still) young Keira Knightley holds her own opposite Brody, proving she is more than capable of earning her stay. Kris Kristofferson turns in memorable performance as Dr. Becker, and Jennifer Jason Leigh looks nearly unrecognizable as Dr. Lorenson, a dramatic difference from her sexy young persona. The new James Bond, Daniel Craig, also turns in a decent performance as a psychiatric patient. Brian Eno's score is quite good, though Peter Deming's cinematography is an attraction in itself. The DVD contains a short documentary on creating the look of the film and there are some deleted scenes included as well. This is definitely worth watching at least once because it reminds us there are people like Jack Starks in this world, though I plan to watch it several times for the divine Miss Knightley.

Another superb performance by Adrien Brody, and even Ms. Pirates of the Caribbean is not bad, although I wish she'd get her fingers away from her mouth!

The psychological and philosophical themes are just well enough indicated that some rather easy-to-locate plot weaknesses won't bother until much later [and usually, only if someone points them out]. But a willing suspension of disbelief will take you far here.

Maybury has explored will, responsibility, and what the knowledge of our own mortality does to us. And he has come up with a film that is visually rich and emotionally engaging. He has gotten some excellent performances from his varied crew of actors.

Not a film easy to categorize, which is the only way I can account for the fact that it seems to have gone straight to DVD.

I look forward to more from Maybury.