The Jacket

USA 2005 - Thriller/Mystery — 102 min — Directed by John Maybury
Cast: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kelly Lynch

A military veteran returns to his native Vermont suffering from bouts of amnesia. When he is accused of murder and lands in an asylum, a well-meaning doctor puts him on a heavy course of experimental drugs, restrains him in a jacket-like device, and locks him away in a body drawer of the basement morgue. The process sends him on a journey into the future, where he can foresee his death (but not who did it or how) in four day's time. Now the only question that matters is: can the woman he meets in the future save him?

The film starts with some epilectic-inducing jump-cuts, but once you get past that it's all uphill. Brody is excellent as the "sick" veteran. Lowkey, yet very effective. Keira as the love interest works fine, as she's one fine lady, though I've got bigger boobs than she. But that's beside the point. She's good too, though Brody has the biggest canvas to paint on. The story is moving along steadily, and it never gets boring. I gotta admit that I've never heard of this film, and it was a big surprise. I wish Hollywood would take more chances, than just pump out craptastic blokbusters. This is not one of those, and it's nice to see that smaller pictures can still be made. It cost in the $20 million to make this one, and I'm just thinking that xXx 2 (released this weekend) cost $100 million more to make... They could have made five The Jacket movies for the price of that collossal disaster. It won't make those $120 million back - not by a longshot. Sure, The Jacket didn't make it back either, but at 1/5th the cost, at least the studio can look forward to great DVD sales/rentals from this, and thus earn some money. It's a good movie. There, I said it.

My Rating: 8 / 10