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Traumatised:
Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) grapples with his memories
in The Jacket.
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No
restriction in suspense
The
Jacket
Adrien
Brody, Keira Knightley
Rating:
4/5
Jack
Starks (Brody) died once. He was shot in the head while serving
in Iraq in 1991, but before he was bagged and tagged he came
back to life.
Back in the US after the war, Jack is accused of a murder he
didn’t commit. Because of his war injuries, Jack is prone
to memory loss, and can’t remember the details of the murder,
even though he was there.
He’s found not guilty by reason of insanity and put in
Alpine Grove, an asylum for the criminally insane.
In the middle of the night he’s drugged and carted to the
basement where a crazy doctor starts his own brand of treatment.
Bound in a straight jacket and confined to a morgue drawer,
Jack is left to his own devices to lose layers of his “evil”
nature.
First he is assailed by flashbacks of the war and eventually
passes out.
The nightly retraining almost gets too much for Jack, when one
of the other patients gives him some advice: don’t freak
out.
That night, in the darkness of the drawer, Jack discovers a
whole new world opens up to him. He travels to 2007 where he
finds out he will die in 1993, four days from when he went into
the drawer.
Through Jackie, a little girl – now a woman – he met
on the day of the murder he was accused of, he tries to find
out how he died and how he can change the future.
This film is complex and almost impossible to explain without
it sounding either boring or ridiculous. Suffice to say, it’s
a brilliant and thought-provoking offering by director John
Maybury that will play on your mind long after you leave the
cinema.
Brody once again shows his talent for expressing complex emotions
and Knightley surprises with her versatility.
Don’t be put off by the mixed reviews, this is must-see
cinema for anyone who appreciates a haunting, intelligent thriller
with a strong cast.
–
Lieutenant Simone Heyer
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