March 8, 2005 -- “The Jacket” is a movie designed to be a thriller, but it turns out to be merely creepy and grimy, sort of like the gunky oil that coats some car engines. It is not something you really want to touch. The whole movie seems coated with oily film. Everything looks dark. All the rooms look like they need to be cleaned and all the characters look like they need a bath. All this would not be so bad if the plot made any sense, but it doesn't add up.

Adrien Brody (“The Pianist”) stars as Jack Starks, a wounded Gulf War veteran who is sentenced to an asylum for a crime he did not commit. Dr. Thomas Becker (Kris Kristofferson of “Blade II”) uses a peculiar form of sensory deprivation therapy combined with drugs to treat Starks, who suffers from amnesia. This involves strapping the patient into a straitjacket and locking him inside a morgue drawer. Not only does this odd treatment work, Starks remembers who actually murdered the man he is accused of killing, but Starks also time travels into the future where he has an affair with one Jackie Price (Keira Knightley of “King Arthur”).

Now this is nonsense of course. It is one thing to build a time machine and explain it away using some kind of technobabble, but this story makes no attempt whatsoever to explain how Starks is able to physically exist in both the future and the past at the same time. Not only that, but he is able to exist in the future years after his own death! According to some scientific theories it may be possible to remember the future, but to travel physically into the future using only mental powers defies any explanation other than a supernatural one. The story could use magic or divine intervention to provide some degree of plausibility for what happens, but neither explanation is invoked in the film. A film with a similar theme, The Butterfly Effect, is a lot more believable in this regard, and it is a better film, too.

Brody is a fine actor, he won a best actor Academy Award for his role in “The Pianist,” but he can't save this dismal film. Also putting in an appearance in the film is Jennifer Jason Leigh of “In the Cut” as Dr. Lorenson. The cinematography by Peter Deming (“From Hell”) is suitably creepy. The extreme closeup images of Brody's eyes made me squirm. The film does establish a distinctive dark, ominous tone. While the story is interesting, character motivation is non-existent. This, and story absurdities, make it unbelievable and uninvolving. This film rates a C.

For more information on this film, including, trailer, multimedia, gallery, synopsis, cast and crew, the production, downloads, check yourself in, message boards, email a friend, press materials click on this link to the official home page of The Jacket.

Copyright © 2005 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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