The Jacket (DVD)

Jack Starks is shot in the head during the Gulf War, where he is serving in the military. Escaping death, he is discharged under medical reasons suffering bouts of amnesia. Hitchhiking through Vermont he comes across a broken down truck. The mother is wasted and throwing up all over the roadside while her young daughter stands there helplessly waiting for someone to come along. Jack fixes the car and gives his dog tags to the enchanting little girl, ...
...they are pulled over by the police, who is unfortunately shot by said driver and due to Jack's bouts of amnesia he is set up as the shooter. His trial concludes he is not guilty by reasons of insanity and he is sent to Alpen Pines institution for the criminally insane.

Dr Thomas Becker is assigned to look after him and unbeknownst to some of the other staff there he is conducting relentless, sadistic experiments on the patients. They ... more

Jack Starks is shot in the head during the Gulf War, where he is serving in the military. Escaping death, he is discharged under medical reasons suffering bouts of amnesia. Hitchhiking through Vermont he comes across a broken down truck. The mother is wasted and throwing up all over the roadside while her young daughter stands there helplessly waiting for someone to come along. Jack fixes the car and gives his dog tags to the enchanting little girl, Jackie, just before her mother bundles her into the car and they drive off leaving Jack behind.

Later another driver picks him up and they head off. Not long after they are pulled over by the police, who is unfortunately shot by said driver and due to Jack's bouts of amnesia he is set up as the shooter. His trial concludes he is not guilty by reasons of insanity and he is sent to Alpen Pines institution for the criminally insane.

Dr Thomas Becker is assigned to look after him and unbeknownst to some of the other staff there he is conducting relentless, sadistic experiments on the patients. They are taken to the basement and strapped into a urine stained straightjacket, after being pumped full of drugs. Following this they are slapped on a table and pushed into a body box drawer in the morgue. Jack's first experience is not a pleasant one and he panics and gets very upset, eventually coming out in a sort of comatose state, staring at the ceiling.

Many other sessions follow of this nature and Jack begins to have flash forwards to his future. On the 26th December 1992 he is put in the drawer and in his dream/flash forward he meets up with an alcoholic young woman, who turns out to be Jackie, the little girl he met by the side of the road. This is how he realises he is in the future. However when Jackie informs him he actually died on 1st January 1993 and he is experiencing life in 2007, he realises he has some things to find out about his death in order to save himself and anyone else he can help along the way.

With four days in which to get answers, he enlists the help of Dr Lorenson in the asylum in 1992 and Jackie in the freedom of 2007. Will he still die and how or who makes it happen? Will he change Jackie's lonely alcoholic future or will it all be in vain?

##THE CHARACTERS##

Adrien Brody plays Jack Starks and I had not seen him in any other film (yet to see King Kong!) although he has been in plenty. I was really impressed with his acting and the casting here as at one point Colin Farrell was originally considered for this role and it would have been so wrong. Brody is so right for the part with his looks and height. He is not conventionally good looking yet brings a real attraction to the character. Starks is drugged up a lot of the time and Brody pulls this off with ease. Eyes rolling back and so on seem to come easy to him.

The tension and claustrophobia of the morgue drawer scenes are amazing. He gives you enough fear and rejection of the drawer in the initial scenes to make you realise the terror he is feeling inside. Some of the scenes inside the drawer actually made me take in great lung fulls of air as it had made me feel so enclosed and claustrophobic that I felt the need to breath really deeply sitting on the settee! Brody's acting in these scenes is second to none, and in one scene when he breaks down and cries, this actually real as he had asked the director to lock him up in the drawer even in between filming to get it as realistic a feeling a possible. He did break down for real in the end and this was caught on camera and used.

Kiera Knightley is huge at the moment and she brings the almost gothic character of Jackie to us in this film. She is full of despondence about life and although she wants to help Jack when she first meets him in 2007, until she realises and accepts who he is she wants him to keep his distance. She is living a hellish life, following in her mothers alcoholic footsteps and her future is not looking that rosy. Kiera obviously didn't mind looking rough for the shots of her as an alcoholic, although with someone who has such a beautiful face it is hard to dampen her down too much. In terms of acting, she good a good job although I don't think she was as good as Brody. Then again her scenes were nowhere near as harrowing or complex as Brody's.

Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kris Kristofferson play the two doctors at the asylum. Leigh plays Beth Lorenson the concerned carer of Stark. Stark gets her on board by telling her how to deal with situations in her personal life, that he could not have known about unless he had seen the future. I'm not keen on Leigh as an actress, although she is not rubbish but there is something missing for me. Maybe it is the roles she plays but she always seems to come across as a bit flat to me, however this does not detract from the brilliant acting from others in the film. Kristofferson plays the evil and sadistic Dr Becker, responsible for locking them in the drawers to begin with. I think he is brilliant. His deeply lined face makes you believe he has so much wisdom and experience but any that is lurking there is just used in awful experiments of rehabilitation on the patients he has been entrusted to look after. His eyes are very haunted and hooded and whether this is normally how he looks I am unsure but for this film especially during the end scenes it is a brilliant way for him to across.

##OVERALL OPINION##

This film was the kind that you keep expecting there to be an explosion of action but it never comes. It is a thinking film and I really loved it. Confusion is certain for the first time watcher to begin with, but this is easily overcome once things become clearer and everything you've seen that was confusing will be remembered and will fall into place quite easily. It is complex but easy to watch at the same time. Brody and Kristofferson were the best for me but there were no "bad" actors or acting in this film.

For me this was one I would like to watch again as I am sure there are things that I could pick up from it and see in a new light or that had not been noticed before when it is watched second time round.

We rented this from Screenselect so there were no special features or extras to tell you about but you can buy it from Amazon for £8.97, which I am sure you will agree, will not break the bank.

Thanks for reading.
xx Summary: Excellent story, great acting
 

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