Synopsis

A psychological thriller about a military veteran who returns to his native Vermont suffering from bouts of amnesia. When he is accused of murder and lands in an asylum, a well-meaning doctor puts him on a heavy course of experimental drugs, restrains him in a jacket-like device, and locks him away in a body drawer of the basement morgue. The process sends him on a journey into the future, where he can foresee his death (but not who did it or how) in four day's time. Now the only question that matters is: can the woman he meets in the future save him?

Official Review

Time Travel, Memory Loss, Death, War. All of these topics are brought together, debatably well, in John Maybury’s new psychological thriller, “The Jacket.” Starring Adrien Brody as Jack Starks, the film opens in the gulf war, with Starks taking a brutal gunshot wound to the head. After being tagged as one of the dead, it is discovered that Starks is still alive. Flash forward to the next part of the film’s choppy opening, and John Starks is walking down a snowy, rural road in Vermont at an unknown date. He comes across a mother and daughter whose car has died on the side of the road. After fixing the car and giving his dog tags to the little girl, Starks walks off down the road. A driver, played by Brad Renfro, picks up Starks as he is hitching farther down the road. The two drive, exchanging friendly hitchhiking conversation, when a cop pulls them over. In a flash of confusion, there are gunshots and death, and Starks is suddenly on trial in a courtroom. He is found not guilty of a crime, unbeknownst to the viewer at this time, by reason of insanity. Adrien Brody’s character is then transferred to an asylum where he is subjected to experimental treatment and Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kris Kristofferson’s characters are introduced; both doctors at the institution. …Read More