Review: Jacket, The (2005)
Jon Popick
"We Put the SIN in Cinema"
© Copyright 2005 Planet Sick-Boy. All Rights Reserved.
When I hear a film will, in any way, shape or form, deal with time
traveling, there's usually a severe rolling of the eyes, followed by an
audible grunt or two. There have been brilliant films in the genre, like
Primer, but some of the worst films in history (Black Knight) have hurtled
their protagonist(s) through time, too. Everything else, however, falls
into the giant, pointless chasm between the two.
In terms of following the rule above, The Jacket doesn't disappoint. I
enjoyed it more than, say, The Butterfly Effect because the talent behind
and in front of the camera were able to make The Jacket a much richer
cinematic experience (and, possibly more importantly, Ashton Kutcher wasn't
in it). I imagine some folks will brush off the story as sci-fi nonsense,
but I also believe those viewers who submerge themselves in the film's
narrative will have a much better chance at enjoying what I found to be an
unexpectedly moving picture.
Adrien Brody (The Village) stars as Jack Starks, a veteran of Gulf War I
who, thanks to a serious head wound suffered in battle, has a pretty jumbled
memory when he returns to his New England home. When Jack finds himself on
trial for killing a cop, he can't come up with an alibi and is sent to a
decrepit mental facility called Alpine Grove in the waning days of 1992.
Part of Jack's "therapy" involves being dragged down to the basement, pumped
full of drugs, bound in the titular straightjacket, and stuffed in a morgue
drawer for hours and hours. Why? Because crazy Dr. Becker (Kris
Kristofferson, Blade: Trinity) says, "You can't break something that's
already been broken."
It's difficult to say what exactly happens when Jack is "in the jacket"
because doing so will give away too much of the film's story. You already
know Keira Knightley (King Arthur) is a co-star, so odds are, Jack will run
into her at some point. And when he does, she'll be hiding behind scraggily
black hair, liberally applied mascara, and a husky American accent,
outwardly channeling Angelina Jolie, Helena Bonham-Carter, and a less
humorous version of Zooey Deschanel's store clerk from The Good Girl (and,
yes - she gets naked, so stop emailing me to ask). Her character's
relationship with Jack initially seems weird and forced, but it totally pays
off at the end.
As you would expect, The Jacket is a very visual ride, with David Lynch's
photographer Peter Deming aiding director John Maybury's first big league
film effort, especially in showing Jack's fragmented memory flickering
around his brain as reflections off of his crazy eyes. Brian Eno
contributes a warm, repetitive score, and the surprisingly deep cast
(Jennifer Jason Leigh, Daniel Craig, Brad Renfro) features both an
unrecognizable Mackenzie Phillips, and the singer from Marillion. And there
aren't too many movie that can make that claim. Even stranger, the list of
producers stretches from Clooney and Soderbergh, to basketball maniac Mark
Cuban, to the kid who played Tommy on Alice.
1:42 - R for violence, language and brief sexuality/nudity
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Susan Granger
From the theatrical Coming Attractions, I assumed this was a gothic horror
picture. It is. But it has a time-traveling metaphysical twist that's both
exciting and thought-provoking.
Gaunt Adrien Brody, who won an Oscar for "The Pianist," stars as Jack
Starks, a Marine who was 27 years old when he was shot in the head by an Arab
kid during the Gulf War back in 1992. Pronounced dead, Starks was rushed to a
hospital when a medic saw him blink. Then, still shell-shocked, he was sent
home to Vermont with retrograde amnesia. Which explains why he can't remember
much when a policeman is killed by the driver (Brad Renfro) of a car in which
he'd hitched a ride. As a result, he's sent Apine Grove Psychiatric Hospital
for the criminally insane.
Medicated into a stupor, Starks is routinely tormented, tortured and
traumatized by a sadistic psychiatrist (Kris Kristofferson) who confines him in
a straight-jacket, straps him to a metal slab and stuffs him into a morgue
drawer for hours at a time. This cruel, claustrophobic "behavior modification"
technique not only spurs him to recall a drugged-out mother (Kelly Lynch) and
her young daughter whom he helped when their car broke down but also,
mysteriously, catapults him ahead to 2007, when the now-grown daughter (Keira
Knightley) is working in a roadside diner.
Avante-garde British director John Maybury ("Love Is the Devil") cleverly
constructs the harrowing visuality of Massy Tadjedin's Kafka-esque screenplay,
based on a story by Tom Bleeker and Marc Rocco that inevitably evokes memories
of "12 Monkeys." On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Jacket" is a
mesmerizing, mind-bending 8. It's a deeply unsettling, chillingly surreal
psychological thriller.
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Bill Clark
by Bill Clark
http://www.fromthebalcony.com
bi...@fromthebalcony.com
RATING (Ripe or Rotten): RIPE
URL: http://www.fromthebalcony.com/jacketbill.htm
QUOTE: "...for those who are patient, the payoff is one that you won't
soon forget."
The Jacket is a terrific exercise in energy, storytelling, and
exploring the supernatural. For those viewers who are patient, there is
nary a dull moment in this puzzler that successfully meshes elements
from all different genres. The outcome is a visceral aural experience
coupled with a premise and denouement that will have you thinking for
days and re-examining your own existence.
As the film opens, Jack Starks (Brody) is carrying out military orders
during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. As he tries to help an Iraqi boy
to safety, the boy unexpectedly pulls a gun on him and shoots him in
the head, leaving him to bleed to death on the sandy ground. By the
time the medics get him to safety, Starks appears dead. But then, he
blinks. This was the "first time I died," according to Starks.
Six months later Jack is hitchiking along a snowy Vermont road when he
happens upon Jean (Lynch), the severely drunken mother of young Jackie.
The pair's truck died on them, and Jack kindly helps them get it
started. The two drive off, leading Jack to fend for himself without so
much as a "thank you."
Moments later a man driving a stationwagon appears and offers Jack a
lift to the Canadian border. Jack accepts, but the two soon find
themselves in danger when the driver shoots a cop dead in his tracks.
Jack takes a bullet, and the mysterious driver plants the gun next to
Jack, making it look as though he committed the crime, and takes off.
Jack soon finds himself in court for the murder of the police officer,
but is found innocent but sentenced to do time at the Alpine Grove
Psychiatric Hospital. There, the malicious Dr. Becker (Kristofferson)
and his associates (including Dr. Lorenson, played by Jennifer Jason
Leigh) subject Starks to hours on end inside a morgue drawer cocooned
in a straight jacket. This is where the story really begins.
Whenever Jack is in the claustrophobic confinement of the drawer while
wearing the jacket he is transported to 2007, where he meets Jackie
(Knightley), a drunken waitress whom we quickly learn is the same
little girl who he helped on the Vermont road. Jackie tells him that he
is already dead in 2007, and has been for fourteen years! Now Jack must
unravel the mystery to his own death in 2007 to prevent it in 1993.
Believe it or not, I have only scratched the surface of this story.
There are so many underlying themes and elements in The Jacket that
many will not catch them all in the first viewing. This is a film about
life, love (Jack and Jackie strike up a romantic relationship), and the
supernatural that we hardly ever find ourselves thinking about. The
ending to this film is so satisfying and appropriate that you, the
viewer, know you've been on the same page as the filmmakers all along.
The performances are all spot on. Adrien Brody is perfectly cast as a
quiet, humble man who knows that he is not insane, but cannot help but
believe that he has a life to live in 2007. Brody's facial expressions
add so much to the character, especially considering nearly every word
he speaks is in a soft whisper. Keira Knightley makes a fabulous
dramatic turn as the highly troubled Jackie, a woman who at first
strongly believes that Jack is an imposter in her life. Her character
has so many nuances and quirks, and Knightley pulls off the role
beautifully. Kris Kristofferson and Jennifer Jason Leigh are also
effective as two doctors who may not completely know the consequences
of their actions. When Jack meets them in 2007, the scenes have an
undeniable chill that heightens the film's intensity.
Director John Maybury gives us some splendid camerawork. The
claustrophobic feeling of the morgue drawer is captured brilliantly, as
oftentimes all we hear are Jack's eyes blinking. Many will feel that
Maybury elected to use far too strong of an aural experience for the
movie (many scenes border on sensory overload in terms of audible
noise), but I feel this adds to the experience. We are witnessing what
is going on in Jack's mind, and it isn't pretty at first. Screenwriter
Massy Tadjedin clearly has a firm grasp on the story by Tom Bleecker
and Marc Rocco. A fantastic job is done of making sense of this complex
psychological story.
The Jacket, by its very essence, is a film that is bound to divide
those who see it. I think the film is being mis-marketed as a horror
film of sorts, when in fact the core story is about life, death, and
what people in our lives can mean to us. This is a multi-faceted film
that may not play well to everyone, but for those who are patient, the
payoff is one that you won't soon forget.
web: http://www.fromthebalcony.com
email: bi...@fromthebalcony.com
Copyright 2005 FromTheBalcony
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Robin Clifford
Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) is a member of an army unit
fighting in Iraq during the Gulf War. At the end of a
tense raid, he tries to befriend a young boy, who
pulls a gun and shoots the soldier in the head.
Thought to be dead, Jack miraculously comes back to
life but, after a year of rehab, he still does not
have his memory back. When he is arrested, later, for
the murder of a state trooper, he can't remember a
thing and is declared insane. He ends up in the hands
of a mad scientist psychiatrist, Dr. Becker (Kris
Kristofferson), whose radical form of "treatment"
forces his patients to wear "The Jacket."
Jack's Gulf War trauma and its subsequent effect on
his memory have made him an outsider in his old world.
After his "rehabilitation," which did nothing to
restore his mind, he is sent off to fend for himself.
Packing his duffel bag and dog tags, to remind him of
whom he is, he heads off to parts unknown. Along the
road he meets a young girl, Jackie (Laura Marano), and
her distraught, drugged up mother Jean (Kelly Lynch),
whose pickup truck has broken down. He gets the truck
running but, before he can even think of asking for a
ride, Jean strikes out, screams at him to get away,
jumps in the truck and takes of. A while later Jack
hitches a ride from a stranger (Brad Renfro) who
proceeds to gun down the state trooper that pulled him
over.
Jack, now a murder suspect, can remember little more
than glimpses of people and things, can't defend
himself and is found criminally insane. He is sent to
a mental hospital (which, from the actions of the
staff, is Draconian on a good day) and placed in the
hands of Dr. Becker for treatment. He is drugged up
with a variety of pharmaceuticals then, without
warning, dragged from his cell by two burly orderlies,
brought to a basement room where he is trussed up and
immobilized in a straight jacket and, to his horror,
slid into a morgue body locker.
Terrified, Jack begs to be let out and begins to
experience disjointed flashbacks to his forgotten
past. After a few hours he is released from his
confining crypt and sent back to the ward where he
meets another inmate, Rudy McKenzie (Daniel Craig).
Rudy, who may have been through the same
medieval-style treatment, gives Jack advice on how to
survive the sensory deprivation and project his mind
away from his personal horror. Jack had an experience
while under the treatment of the jacket where he is
projected into the future. He meets the grown up
version of Jackie (Kiera Knightley) and convinces her
that he, nearly 20 years ago, was the guy who saved
Jackie and her mom.
Once this "Back to the Future" premise is established,
"The Jacket" takes on an air of having Jack make
things right in his world, restore his mind, get the
girl and live happily ever after. There is an air of
trying to cover too much ground in "The Jacket" as it
combines the essence of such films as "Altered States"
and "Jacob's Ladder" and includes, at least on a
cursory level, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." As
such, the film, directed by John Maybury, takes the
story by Tom Bleeker and Marc Rocco (with scripter
Tassy Tadjedin) and tries to make it a time travel
saga, love story, psychological thriller and horror
yarn all rolled in to one. It's a bit too much story
to stuff into 102 minutes but, at times, it works
well.
The acting, while not outstanding, is solid across the
board. Adrien Brody proves his mettle as an actor and
gives a harrowing performance as a man whose past,
present and future are a confused jumble that he must,
somehow, sort out. Kiera Knightley is, initially,
distracting as the adult Jackie. The actress too self
consciously kept touching her mouth and dragging
drinking glasses across it in a way that made me feel
she was not paying attention to the proceedings.
Fortunately, as the story rolls out, the presence of
her character is dissipated by the action and Jack's
fight to break away from his tormentors.
Others in supporting roles include Jennifer Jason
Leigh as Dr. Lorenson, a psychiatrist in the hospital
who tries to help Jack. His trips to the future help
her to cure an ailing young boy experiencing seizures
are a subplot that may have been unnecessary but it is
nice to JJL on the screen. Kris Kristofferson is
saddled with the mad scientist role but his craggy
face is, as always, interesting (much of which is shot
in extreme close-up by cinematographer Peter Deming
who use the copious close-ups, especially of Brody, to
good affect). Kelly Lynch is solid as little Jackie's
junkie mother and does what she can with the miniscule
role. Laura Marano is notable as the child Jackie.
Techs are first rate with Deming's expert lensing,
which helped define the claustrophobia of being in a
straightjacket and thrust into a body locker. That
image alone brings shivers to my spine. Douglas Hall's
costume design, especially the title garment, works
well within the concept. Alan MacDonald's production
design also fits the bill. The much discussed nude sex
scene between Jack and the adult Jackie is overblown
and adds little to the film or the story.
"The Jacket" tries to do many things and succeeds in a
fair portion of them. The future-past dichotomy is
well handled though I don't know if it will stand up
to the scrutiny of repeated viewings, as a film like
"The Sixth Sense" does. There is a distinctive creep
factor infused in the film that helps bring it up a
notch in the psychological horror category. I give it
a B-.
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