pandabat Review of The Jacket

The Jacket (2005)

Donnie Darko's not looking over his shoulder for this one!

[7/10 · 7 June 2005]

I could just about give this movie a vote of seven out of ten - just! This movie starts off on an interesting premise. The protagonist sustains a head injury in the Gulf War, returns to the US and ends up being implicated in a crime which he cannot remember the details of but which is presented on-screen as being perpetrated by another man. He is found not guilt by reason of insanity and this results in him being sent to a mental institution for treatment which takes the form of a combination of being straitjacketed, injected with drugs and placed on a morgue drawer. Naturally he trips out and has visions of the future (more specifically the year 2007) in which he finds out that he has died on New Years 1992/1993. There's a plot involving Keira Knightley's character as a combination of a love interest and a link to his past and the crime for which this man has been sent to the mental institution. Unfortunately the movie fudges any issue which comes up and most people seem to have little problem believing a mental patient who says that he's seen the future. It tries to be Donnie Darko and Jacob's Ladder but fails to be as convincing or compelling as either of these movies and it's only the feelgood factor, and the fact that I really wanted to like it because it's a bit different, which really redeemed it - though on another day, this may have resulted in it getting a lower score from me. Brody's performance is actually quite good while Knightley's is strained and overwrought although she's probably there more for eye candy purposes. Don't go out of your way for this one!