I've watched this movie out of desperation, as I've found nothing better I haven't seen before.While it starts off boring, slowly it starts to get better, still fails to redeem itself. It was released in 2005, and I suspect it did not age well. There have been better thrillers about similar things - even before (like The Butterfly Effect or Frequency).The main problem is that this movie is not smart, the main character does nothing to change his own fate (which he inadvertently does just to make the movie more cliché), and does not even think about what is happening. I did not feel challenged to think, there were no surprises or brilliant ideas that the genre would demand.Adrien Brody does some very poor one-sided acting here and there, which I assume is fan service. The supporting actors are much more interesting, and deliver layered performances.The music, script and directing, meh, all mediocre. The special effects are not bad for the time, but they serve no real purpose.This could have been so much more if it dares to be philosophically challenging.

I have a feeling since winning an Oscar in 2002, Adrien Brody has been a little disappointed in his career trajectory. Bad choices, bad management? Or it may be that he wants to do unusual films. Who knows?"The Jacket" from 2005 is a very good film, however, which also stars Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson, and Jennifer Jason-Leigh. Brody is Jack Starks, who served in Iraq and is killed, except as they're about to put him in the freezer, he blinks. After a long recovery, he is out on his own and hitches a ride with someone. When they are stopped by the police for driving too slowly, the man kills the cop and Jack is injured. The man cleans his gun and throws it in Jack's direction. Then he takes off. Unfortunately, when Jack recovers, he doesn't remember anything about the accident. All he remembers is that he helped fix the truck belonging to a drunken woman, who was with her little girl. No one believes him.After a trial, he is found not guilty by reason of insanity and placed in a mental institution. There, he is given an experimental treatment (that actually was banned in the '70s) and overmedicated. During the treatments, he remembers things from his past...and also is able to go into the future, where he learns something disturbing.Really good film, part thriller/part drama, based on a 1913 book by Jack London which actually had to do with the prison system. Brody is sympathetic as a good man caught in traumatic and unspeakable circumstances. Knightley, as a bitter waitress who drinks, is excellent, as are Kristofferson and Leigh as doctors, one cold and clinical and one concerned and empathetic. One more thing that knocked me for a loop. One of the men in the institution, Rudy MacKenzie, drove me crazy. Black hair, American, not great skin, fast talker, and clearly unstable. He looked SO familiar to me, yet I couldn't place him. I thought, this guy is someone famous but I don't know where I've seen him. I can guarantee you won't either. And as it happens, this is the second time I've seen him in something where I didn't recognize him at first. I didn't look at the cast list ahead of time. Don't do it and see if you can figure it out.

When you start a movie starring Adrien Brody, you know you're in for quite an experience. An actor like Daniel Day-Lewis or Al Pacino, Brody immerses himself in his work and always becomes quite believable in the character he is playing. His role in The Jacket was no different. This dark, gritty film from 2005, captures the essence of despair of a world Brody's character had already left.We first meet our star, Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) in a military hospital during the Gulf War. The soldier was shot and believed to have died, when the stunned doctors realize he is alive and needs further medical attention right away. Once he comes to, Jack navigates to his native Vermont, afflicted by bouts of amnesia. Hitchhiking to get around, Jack is picked up by a man who murders a police officer when he is pulled over while Jack is in the car. Jack is accused of murdering the police officer, and is sentenced to an institution for the criminally insane. Once admitted to the hospital, he unwillingly becomes a participant in a Doctor Thomas Becker's (Kris Kristofferson) experiments. The experiments have Jack laced into a heavy straightjacket in the drawer of the morgue. Throughout this "treatment", Jack gets flashbacks of the future and the effect is has on a little girl (Kiera Knightly) headed for a troubled life because of her alcoholic/drug addicted mother he meets while hitchhiking. When one flashback shows that he will die within the week, he engages in a race against time to save the girl and her mother.This film was not my cup of tea, as the saying goes. The character development seemed minimal, and when it was fleshed out, seemed as if nothing good had ever happened in these people's lives. The film was shot in a gritty, dark way, which fit the story line; but was a little difficult to view as some scenes were difficult to discern due to the extreme darkness of the screen. Admittedly, I'm also not a huge fan of Adrien Brody's. His acting was wonderful in The Pianist, but I have just not been impressed with him since. So, granted, I am biased against the actor, although I'm always willing to be proved wrong, I just wasn't this time. The overly dark sets and lighting were detractors that were too difficult for me to overcome. The story was an interesting one, but perhaps could have been better developed or fleshed out. The Jacket had me hopeful, but in the end left me just wanting a better story out of it.Fans of Adrien Brody's will surely enjoy the film and its message which I thought to be escape. Even though the experiments were so intrusive and painful for Stark, he didn't want them to stop. He used the experiments as an escape. Maybe he wanted to help people; or maybe he just wanted to leave his own reality behind for a little while. Whatever the reason, Stark was anxious to escape. Unfortunately for the audience, poor casting and a convoluted film, made me want to escape while watching it. It's safe to say, I won't be visiting this film again, if I can help it, in this dimension or another.

You kind of see what you are going to get while watching this movie, but the pace and vibe of this film makes you forget about that and that lets you really enjoy the moment and feel good.Not the deepest and most twisted plots of a movie of this sort, but it surely succeeds to deliver when it comes to making you curious. Sets a strangely good mood, maybe even if the subject is not as bright as it looks. Yes, it has some obvious plot holes, but like with most of the movies similar to this one, you simply have to believe everything that happens and go with the flow to enjoy it.The acting is top notch, Adrian Brody and Keira Knightley have outstanding performances here, really adding to the flow of this movie. It just feels right and you don't want to start questioning yourself and try to finds flaws. A nice mysterious and twisted movie, nothing too crazy, but still has awesome acting and a good feel to it, worth your while!