Jack Starks is a Gulf war veteran who's sent home after being shot in the head. Although he did not die but is suffering from amnesia. Back home, one day he's hitching and gets picked up by a stranger who kills a cop that pulls them over. Jake goes to trial and can't remember what happened so he's wrongfully accused and ends up in an asylum for the criminally insane. In the asylum Jack is treated with experimental therapy by a doctor, who puts Jack in a straight jacket and locks him up in a body drawer in the morgue. During his time in the body drawer, Jack gets flashbacks and visions of his future and finds out that he's gonna die in only four days. So his only chance for survival is to get back into the body drawer to find out how he's gonna die.
This movie actually made me think of The Butterfly Effect for the simple reason that both movies deal with time travelling, and share some similar things, even though they are not too alike. I was actually amazed with how good The Jacket really turned out to be considering I had no real expectations to begin with. I know Adrien Brody is a good actor but here he's beyond good. But it's not just the acting, it's actually the story that's so darn interesting. From start to finish, there's not a dull moment, every little scene has something to offer and it truly draws you in and does not let go until the credits roll.
For being a thriller, it does not actually have that much suspense to offer. There are some scenes in the movie that of course has some moments of suspense, but nothing really big. But like I said earlier, it's super interesting and once in a while during the movie when Jack gets his flashbacks all of a sudden, it kinda makes you jump a bit. Although it's never scary, things just come very unexpected at times and kinda hits you out of the blue.
Expect for Adrien Brody giving an excellent performance with his character, all other actors in the movie truly does a good job as well. Since the movie jumps back and forth in time, the actors has to perform in multiple realities. Still being the same characters, but with or without the knowledge of other times, and everyone makes that truly believable as well.
The directing is brilliant and the script is very well written. Since the movie jumps back and forth and has so much going on at all times, it still manages to be very clear and gives you just the right amount of clues to keep track and to keep up. This is one thing it has really succeeded in doing. With another director, things may have looked and been totally different of course, but as we get to see it now, it's perfect.
Even though it's not scary or that suspensefull, it still manages to keep you tense all the way through. Also this is the type of movie that could of easily had a really weird ending, with just cutting off so you would have to think for yourself. But it doesn't, and even if the ending is kinda what you expect, it still delivers and makes the overall experience truly worth while.
I wish there were more movies like this, but on the other hand if there was, maybe this wouldn't have been as interesting as it turned out to be. It's fantastic and you should definitely give it a go.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 2005
DIRECTOR: John Maybury
WRITING CREDITS: Tom Bleecker, Marc Rocco
GENRE: Thriller
CAST: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson
COUNTRY: USA, Germany
RUNTIME: 103 min
RATING: 9/10
Jacket, The Website/IMDB Click here
Jacket, The Trailer Click here
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