Movie Haiku - The Jacket

www.thejacketmovie.co.uk

Dir: John Maybury

Cast: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh

He died in Gulf War
goes mad wearing straight-jacket
visits the future

The Jacket begins with the death of Jack Starks (Brody), an American soldier stationed in Iraq. Yet he survives. One year later he's declared mentally insane and sent to an asylum run by Dr Becker (Kristofferson) after being implicated in the death of a cop. The doctor runs tests on his patients by placing them in straight-jackets and holing them up in the morgue. When this happens to Starks he finds himself fifteen years into the future where he meets Jackie (Knightley), a girl he helped many years ago. Can the lessons he learns from the future change the past or the present? Or is he just completely barking mad? The Jacket follows in a long line of altered reality films, as most recently evidenced in the similarly themed The Machinist and The I Inside. In some ways this hampers this movie as the plot feels just a little too familiar, despite a different handling of the subject matter. It's never less than interesting, but at the same time never rises above its genre roots. Director Maybury does a competent job and Brody is fine in the central role. Keira Knightley gives a more edgy performance as Jackie which bodes well for her forthcoming appearance in Tony Scott's Domino. There's some good supporting roles too, with the ever reliable Jennifer Jason Leigh as a sympathetic doctor who's willing to listen to Starks' stories, whilst Brit Daniel Craig turns up as a fellow mental patient. I also enjoyed the brooding ambient score by Brian Eno. But what I would really like now is something a little more original from Hollywood instead of these endless variations on the one theme. Please?

soulmining rating: ***