:
Adrien Brody,
Adrien Brody,
Keira Knightley,
more...
:
John Maybury,
John Maybury
see all cast/crew...
: 
: Warner Home Video
: Foreign, UK
: 103 min.
: English, French
: English, Spanish, French
see additional details...
|
|
A troubled war veteran tries to unlock his memories of a terrible crime in this stylish thriller, the first American project for British filmmaker John Maybury. In 1991, Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) was an American soldier serving in the Persian Gulf when he was shot in the head; pronounced dead by a field surgeon, Starks somehow returned to life, though with no small number of psychological problems to show for his troubles. A year later, Starks is walking through the snowy Vermont wilderness when he discovers a woman whose truck has broken down, Jean (Kelly Lynch). Starks tries to help Jean and her young daughter, and later flags down a car for a ride into town; however, the car is being driven by a criminal on the run from the police (Brad Renfro), and not long after the car is cornered by police, Starks' memory goes blank. When he comes to, Jack is accused of killing a patrolman in the violent standoff that followed, and is told the woman, her daughter, and the criminal existed only in his imagination. Declared insane in his murder trial, Starks is sentenced to a mental institution run by Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson), who seems to believe that the more brutal the treatment, the better. As Starks suffers frequent beatings and long spells in a frozen locker, his mind drifts from his harrowing past into the future, where he visits with Jackie (Keira Knightley), who once was the young girl Starks tried to help. The Jacket also features Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dr. Lorenson, a compassionate doctor who tries to help Starks and his fellow patients. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
|
| Not bad at all
by Battie
July 2, 2005 - 1:21 AM PDT
|
|
|
4 out of 4 members found this review helpful
|
I'd heard a few bad things about The Jacket, though not from personal sources, so I was half-expecting a bad film. And yet, while it did have a beginning the confused the daylights out of me, by the end, I understood it rather well. Perhaps the biggest problem that plagues the movie is that it doesn't explain everything, or how some fantastical things are possible. Yet I found I didn't need or want to know. Mucking up the story with logical explanations would've ruined it. >;)
It's a bit hard to describe why I enjoyed The Jacket, beyond the nice performances given (I've also come to expect that from Adrien Brody). Perhaps it was the simple fact that the movie tells a story without needing to prove anything, uncover any mysteries, or insist on any theories. It was, simply, a story. To top it off, the way the film dragged me into a ball of confusion, and slowly brought all the threads together to give me a linear plot was pretty entertaining. It would've kept me watching even without the fairly fast-paced plot.
I'd have liked The Jacket even without the sentimental ending (which I wasn't expecting, since it seems to be a given that any film that isn't a Hollywood blockbuster has to have an ending that is somehow depressing). It's a film you just watch, if not for the interesting story, than for the lovely performances the actors give. |
| The Corrections
by talltale
June 23, 2005 - 7:03 AM PDT
|
|
|
6 out of 7 members found this review helpful
|
Mostly given a critical drubbing, THE JACKET proves one of the more unusual time travel movies in awhile (if that's actually what it is). I'm not sure, in fact, that I got all the points the filmmakers were trying to make here; even so, I was never for a moment sorry I watching this genuinely interesting movie that features (not unexpectedly) a raft of fine performances from everyone concerned.
This is a cast to die for: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Kris Kirstofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kelly Lynch, Daniel Craig, Steven Mackintosh, Brad Renfro, Mackenzie Phillips (and more). If you care about fine acting, you'll be queuing up momentarily. Director John Mayberry ("Love is the Devil") and his screenwriter Massy Tadjedin have put together a strange, sometimes confusing but eventually quite different and moving tale of time and correction, rather than the more often used guilt-and-redemption theme. I wouldn't have missed this one, but be prepared to grapple, work things out and still find yourself holding some loose ends. |
|
|
GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.73)
70 Votes
add to list 
|
|
|
Your cart
stevensj503
Cinenaut
© 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. Portions of content provided by All Movie Guide®,
a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.