Movie Review for Jacket, The

Summary: After recuperating from a gunshot wound to the head, Gulf War veteran Jack Starks returns to his native Vermont suffering from Amnesia. When he is accused of murdering a police officer and committed to a mental institution, a physician, Dr. Becker, puts him on a controversial treatment regimen in which Starks is injected with experimental drugs, confined in a straight-jacket, and locked for extended periods in the body drawer of the basement morgue. In his drugged and disoriented state, Starks’ mind propels him into the future, where he meets Jackie, and discovers that he is destined to die in four days. Together, they search for a way to save him from his fate.

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Kevin Carr of 7M Pictures (7/0)
            I wouldn’t go as far to say that The Jacket is the best film of 2005 so far, but it’s definitely ...

By Marcy Dermansky of About.com (7/0)
             Oscar winner Adrien Brody—-tall, thin, twitching, and painfully earnest—-makes for a convincing ...

By Phil Villarreal of Arizona Daily Star (7/0)
            Like being pushed into a swimming pool with all your clothes on or hitting the curb on your bike ...

By Marjorie Baumgarten of Austin Chronicle (7/0)
            Forgettable.

By Stella Papamichael of BBC (7/0)
            Ultimately it doesn't amount to much, but like Starks' drug-induced trip, The Jacket is about the...

By Emily Blunt of Blunt Review (7/0)
            The Jacket is an uncategorizable little film; part romance, part horror, part mind-bending dimens...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Ty Burr of Boston Globe (7/0)
            The acting makes the difference, and in Jacket it rises above the needs of the material.

By Bryant Frazer of Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus (7/0)
            Ambitious-verging-on-pretentious screenplay adroitly lensed by a director with impressive formal ...

By Lawrence Toppman of Charlotte Observer (7/0)
            It draws you into its grim and mysterious world through the first half of the movie, then falls a...

By Sean O'Connell of Charlotte Weekly (8/0)
            This thriller knows where it wants to go, and won’t let science stand in its way.

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            ...you can sense an impulse toward a better film...

By Kevin M. Williams of Chicago Tribune (7/0)
            What sounds formulaic is elevated by strong performances -- particularly from Brody -- interestin...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By David Sterritt of Christian Science Monitor (7/0)
            It doesn't entirely succeed, but it's certainly a change from today's standard mysteries and horr...

By Stefan Ulstein of Christianity Today (7/0)
            A solid attempt to wrestle with some big questions. The cast is exemplary and the premise and scr...

By Devin Faraci of CHUD (7/0)
            The Jacket’s not a failure, and I’m sure that it will have its fans. It’s not a movie I ever need...

By Pablo Villaca of Cinema em Cena (7/0)
            Conta com conceitos interessantes, embora demore um pouco mais do que deveria para revelá-los par...

By Mark Palermo of Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) (7/0)
            It’s finally unsatisfying, but the stars keep it involving.

By Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net (7/0)
            Fails to deliver because we've seen a lot of it before, only done better

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net (7/0)
            Fails to deliver because we've seen a lot of it before, only done better

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (7/0)
            Adrien Brody convinces with his portrayal of a man who is committed to an institution for the cri...

By Mary F. Pols of Contra Costa Times (7/0)
            I was still with The Jacket at the end, largely because Brody makes a compelling antihero.

By Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing (7/0)
            That the movie never attempts to even offer an explanation of its weird science exemplifies the h...

By Jesse Paddock of culturevulture.net (7/0)
            The two actors generate a decent chemistry together and manage to give this cobbled-together stin...

By Philip Wuntch of Dallas Morning News (7/0)
            It's basically Mr. Brody's movie, and his performance is riveting.

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Jeff Vice of Deseret News, Salt Lake City (7/0)
            It seems unsure of exactly what it's trying to say, as if its focus was changed by the studio to ...

By Dragan Antulov of Draxblog Movie Reviews (7/0)
            film whose quality defies its script

By John J. Puccio of DVDTown.com (7/0)
            What we get is mostly a convoluted tale that tries hard to seem far more important than it is. In...

By Blake French of E! Online (7/0)
            Macabre, intense, and daring...

By Vince Koehler of Entertainment Spectrum (7/0)
            The story goes back and forth into the future and then the past and is very disturbing. This is a...

By Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly (7/0)
            Feels like it must be the 12th jolt-laden morbid thriller to open this year, yet it's the first t...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Eric D. Snider of EricDSnider.com (7/0)
            Moves like a thriller yet rarely does anything thrilling.

By Eugene Novikov of Film Blather (7/0)
            Our hands close on air.

By Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central (7/0)
            Unusually wise about its visual vocabulary.

By Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central (7/0)
            Unusually wise about its visual vocabulary.

By Doris Toumarkine of Film Journal International (7/0)
            This patchwork of horror, time travel, romance, medical and war drama with a thriller through-lin...

By Eric Campos of Film Threat (7/0)
            You'll either walk away with a headache, or praising filmmaker John Maybury for his unique narrat...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Eric Campos of Film Threat (7/0)
            You'll either walk away with a headache, or praising filmmaker John Maybury for his unique narrat...

By Heidi Martinuzzi of Film Threat (7/0)
            The only real scares here take place as images in Brody's head when he hallucinates under Dr. Bec...

By Blake French of filmcritic.com (7/0)
            I left the theater a different person than when I entered ... one of the year’s best films.

By Brian Orndorf of FilmJerk.com (7/0)
            The real shock of Jacket is actress Keira Knightley, who bumbles the critical role of Jackie with...

By Victoria Alexander of FilmsInReview.com (7/0)
            An effective claustrophobic nightmare.

By Pam Grady of FilmStew.com (7/0)
            Where Maybury's direction is relentlessly stylish, screenwriter Massy Tadjedin's script sputters ...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Pam Grady of FilmStew.com (7/0)
            Where Maybury's direction is relentlessly stylish, screenwriter Massy Tadjedin's script sputters ...

By MaryAnn Johanson of Flick Filosopher (7/0)
            I like a good mind f**k as much as anyone, but hey, Mr. Movie, do not roll over and light a cigar...

By Rob Vaux of Flipside Movie Emporium (7/0)
            The tremendous potential lying at its heart remains unrealized, despite good intentions and an ap...

By Scott Von Doviak of Fort Worth Star-Telegram (7/0)
            For a while, the moody atmosphere and trippy visuals add up to an unnerving experience.

By Bill Clark of FromTheBalcony (8/0)
            For those who are patient, the payoff is one that you won't soon forget.

By Rick Groen of Globe and Mail (7/0)
            Apparently, there's a lot less to this picture than meets the eye.

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Eric Lurio of Greenwich Village Gazette (7/0)
            Massy Tadjedin’s script is on the cusp of something special, but is too disjointed for it to work...

By Duane Byrge of Hollywood Reporter (7/0)
            The Jacket is not likely to be everyone's cup of tea, but filmmaker John Maybury has forged a mes...

By Duane Byrge of Hollywood Reporter (7/0)
            A mind-blowing cinematic treat...

By Staci Layne Wilson of Horror.com (7/0)
            Not original and doesn’t have an awful lot aside from the good acting to recommend it.

By Eric Harrison of Houston Chronicle (7/0)
            At times it seems like a daring mindbender. At other times, it just seems unintentionally absurd.

By Todd Gilchrist of IGN Movies (7/0)
            A thoughtful, compelling alternative to the genre tripe that's been occupying theaters of late.

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews (7/0)
            Like The Butteryfly Effect, but not nearly as much fun, The Jacket is more often tedious than ten...

By Jackie K. Cooper of jackiekcooper.com (7/0)
            Its compelling desire to be convoluted and quirky dilutes its entertainment value.

By Louis B. Hobson of Jam! Movies (7/0)
            There are some intriguing twists and a pervasive feeling of unholy danger.

By JoBlo of JoBlo's Movie Emporium (7/0)
            ...if you liked VANILLA SKY, THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT and 12 MONKEYS, and appreciated the 'concept' o...

By Linda Cook of KWQC-TV (Iowa) (7/0)
            "The Jacket" isn't a one-size-fits-all for every audience.

By Robert Roten of Laramie Movie Scope (7/0)
            A movie designed to be a thriller, but it turns out to be merely creepy and grimy.

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly (7/0)
            The ending is a giant anticlimax that only gets more frustrating the more you think about it.

By Eric Melin of Lawrence.com (7/0)
            ...a noble failure attempting to be both a brainteaser and an emotional journey while never quite...

By Prairie Miller of Long Island Press (6/1)
            There's nothing wrong with a little vicarious experience when you go to the movies, but the direc...

By Andy Klein of Los Angeles CityBeat (7/0)
            Maybury – ...with help from Brody's terrific sympathetic performance – takes us on a trip with it...

By Kevin Thomas of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            Even the viewer who finds the premise too far-fetched to accept may nonetheless come away impress...

By Rene Rodriguez of Miami Herald (7/0)
            A complex puzzle cooked up by some admittedly smart people, but populated by characters too artif...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Duane Dudek of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (7/0)
            The turgid, lurid hybrid is finally more donkey than thoroughbred.

By Susan Granger of Modamag.com (7/0)
            A mesmerizing, mind-bending, time-traveling, chillingly surreal psychological thriller

By Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (7/0)
            The Jacket may be flawed, but it's also richly compelling.

By Frank Ochieng of Movie Eye (7/0)
            ...feels very laborious and restrictive in its hallucinatory haze. What it boils down to is this:...

By Nell Minow of Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies (7/0)
            This is a smart thriller, with above-average heft and imagination in the story, the structure, an...

By Kevin A. Ranson of MovieCrypt.com (7/0)
            ... the arthouse version of The Butterfly Effect, complete with Oscar™-winning actors and a much ...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Clint Morris of Moviehole (7/0)
            A fresh, fun science-lesson for the noggin.... Brody is solid

By Michael Dequina of Mr. Brown's Movies (7/0)
            By basic definition a time-travel yarn, but to say that is to make this rather turgid drama sound...

By James Rocchi of Netflix (6/1)
            Moody, unstuck-in-time chiller is elevated by strong work from its stars -- especially Adrien Bro...

By Luke Y. Thompson of New Times (7/0)
            the first great film of 2005

By Andrew Sarris of New York Observer (7/0)
            The acting is uniformly excellent.

By Jan Stuart of Newsday (7/0)
            One can't help but wonder how American soldiers in Iraq would respond to seeing their inescapable...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Jeffrey Westhoff of Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) (6/1)
            The Jacket relies more on strong acting and humanist philosophy than on the desire to shock that ...

By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
            Lukewarm kitsch...neither powerful enough to be taken seriously nor splashily crude enough to be ...

By Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel (7/0)
            A somber piece of intellectually challenging entertainment.

By Jeanne Aufmuth of Palo Alto Weekly (7/0)
            Weighs in on a paltry premise but ultimately pays off in tension and redemption.

By Louis-Jérôme Cloutier of Panorama (8/0)
            Rappelons surtout que tout cela a déjà été fait ailleurs, et potentiellement en mieux.

By Jon Popick of Planet Sick-Boy (7/0)
            An unexpectedly moving picture.

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters (7/0)
            It's an apt description of how war, waged by the Organization for the Organized, works on its war...

By Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters (7/0)
            It's an apt description of how war, waged by the Organization for the Organized, works on its war...

By Glenn Kenny of Premiere Magazine (7/0)
            It is the work of conspicuously smart people operating under the assumption that the mass audienc...

By David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews (7/0)
            ...it's hard to ignore the audaciousness with which the story unfolds.

By Timothy Knight of Reel.com (7/0)
            Although there are striking moments, thanks to Maybury's feel for atmosphere, The Jacket is prett...

By Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            The cast is uniformly excellent and the production is artfully eerie, even if the story is a Fran...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            The cast is uniformly excellent and the production is artfully eerie, even if the story is a Fran...

By Robin Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            The Jacket tries to do many things and succeeds in a fair portion of them.

By Diana Saenger of ReelTalk Movie Reviews (7/0)
            'The Jacket' tries to be too many things at once, and its various elements get in the way of each...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (7/0)
            I appreciate the way the story is developed, taking audiences into The Twilight Zone, but not lea...

By Peter Travers of Rolling Stone (7/0)
            Straps you in for a head trip that promises hallucinatory wonders but delivers the same old Holly...

By Peter Travers of Rolling Stone (7/0)
            ...the movie straps you in for a head trip that promises hallucinatory wonders but delivers the s...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Jean Lowerison of San Diego Metropolitan (7/0)
            A curious amalgam of amnesia, psychiatry, murder and even romance that adds up to one of the most...

By Carla Meyer of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
            ...a bad, borderline-camp sci-fi film.

By James O'Ehley of Sci-Fi Movie Page (7/0)
            A neat little time travel thriller that ought to appeal to fans of this particular sci-fi subgenr...

By Paula Nechak of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
            ...a simple love story cloaked in a lot of metaphysical mumbo-jumbo.

By Moira MacDonald of Seattle Times (7/0)
            Maybury tricks everything up with a hyperkinetic directing style that relies heavily on constant ...

By Rich Cline of Shadows on the Wall (7/0)
            It doesn't really hold together on a logical level, but it's fascinating and powerfully emotional...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Nick Schager of Slant Magazine (7/0)
            A great many supernatural things happen in The Jacket, though they ultimately make little sense a...

By Phoebe Flowers of South Florida Sun-Sentinel (7/0)
            What it all means doesn't really become clear until the end, and at that point the unraveled myst...

By Phoebe Flowers of South Florida Sun-Sentinel (7/0)
            What it all means doesn't really become clear until the end, and at that point the unraveled myst...

By Rob Blackwelder of SPLICEDWire (7/0)
            Maybury, whose background in experimental film influences his style, keeps The Jacket grounded in...

By Rob Blackwelder of SPLICEDWire (7/0)
            Maybury, whose background in experimental film influences his style, keeps The Jacket grounded in...

By Thomas Peyser of Style Weekly (Richmond, VA) (7/0)
            If you’ve ever wanted to get a really good look at Adrien Brody’s iris or Kris Kristofferson’s in...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By John Venable of Supercala.com (7/0)
            Creepy...but not in a good way.

By Tony Toscano of Talking Pictures (U.S.) (7/0)
            ...It’s simply not enticing enough...

By Andrew Wright of The Stranger (Seattle, WA) (7/0)
            Starts out like a ball of jittery fire ... but becomes increasingly, distressingly square as it n...

By Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.com (8/0)
            The ambitions of the film are diffused by a nagging sensation that we've seen it all before, and ...

By Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone of TheMovieChicks.com (7/0)
            It takes a bit of shock therapy for the film to effectively relate, but once the drugs kicked in,...

By Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone of TheMovieChicks.com (7/0)
            It takes a bit of shock therapy for the film to effectively relate, but once the drugs kicked in,...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Scott Nash of Three Movie Buffs (7/0)
            Save your money, wait for the inevitable extended version DVD, which will hopefully explain itsel...

By Tony Medley of tonymedley.com (7/0)
            I was ready to walk out of this after the first 20 minutes. But I stuck it out and am I glad I di...

By Audrey Rock-Richardson of Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah) (7/0)
            There’s no end to the maze of unanswered questions in the screenplay.

By Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide's Movie Guide (4/3)
            This heady mix of fantasy, romance and mind-bending monkeyshines survived a tortured development ...

By Urban Cinefile Critics of Urban Cinefile (7/0)
            It doesn’t wash – they just end up with hogwash…

By Matthew Turner of ViewLondon (7/0)
            Part of the fun with twisty time-travel movies is in trying to figure out what's going on and

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Willie Waffle of WaffleMovies.com (7/0)
            The Jacket is a cool psychological thriller with great acting and a story that keeps you guessing...

By Desson Thomson of Washington Post (7/0)
            The Jacket is doing nothing but sampling elements of Jacob's Ladder, The Silence of the Lambs and...

By John Beifuss of Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            Eventually abandons its trippy sense of mind-bending mystery for life-is-beautiful affirmation: a...

By A. O. Scott of New York Times (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            ...this movie is terribly silly, but it's not completely terrible.

By Shlomo Schwartzberg of Boxoffice Magazine (3/4) No reference
            The Jacket may not be the worst thing out there but it's eminently forgettable.

By Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi of Broomfield Enterprise (3/4) No reference
            Brody was over-qualified for this part.

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Kevin Williams of Chicago Tribune (3/4) No reference
            ...a gripping drama...

By Robert Denerstein of Denver Rocky Mountain News (3/4) No reference
            An impressive application of mood and style can't really bring a skittering script into focus.

By Kit Bowen of Hollywood.com (3/4) No reference
            The Jacket is a horrifyingly strange and cluttered but innately fascinating movie-going experienc...

By Robert W. Butler of Kansas City Star (3/4) No reference
            The great mystery of The Jacket is how so many really terrific performers got sucked into such a ...

By Chuck Wilson of L.A. Weekly (3/4) No reference
            While screenwriter Massy Tadjedin's derivative premise definitely taps into universal fears, dire...

By Glenn Whipp of Los Angeles Daily News (3/4) No reference
            Works best if you turn off your mind, relax and let Adrien Brody's jittery paranoia fill you with...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Jami Bernard of New York Daily News (3/4) No reference
            I enjoyed the electroshock ambience, and accepted the ride as a jumped-up sci-fi mystery.

By Kyle Smith of New York Post (3/4) No reference
            ...tepid...

By Stephen Whitty of Newark Star-Ledger (3/4) No reference
            A sci-fi fantasy with an unusual bit of gravity and style.

By Steve Schneider of Orlando Weekly (3/4) No reference
            Admirable experiment in psychological science fiction.

By Gary Thompson of Philadelphia Daily News (3/4) No reference
            A clever story with a decent cast but lacks the sort of skilled handling (paging M. Night Shyamal...

By Jack Garner of Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (3/4) No reference
            A dark and twisted gothic about a man's struggle to make sense of a senseless world. Whether you ...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Sean Means of Salt Lake Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Director John Maybury amps up the quick-edit visual shocks, which mostly serve to distract from t...

By Chris Hewitt (St. Paul) of St. Paul Pioneer Press (3/4) No reference
            Raises unsettling questions about identity and about how accurately we perceive the world we thin...

By Mark Collette of Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) (3/4) No reference
            This is one time-travel movie that isn't interested in the paradoxes inherent in time travel. It ...

By Mark Collette of Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) (3/4) No reference
            This is one time-travel movie that isn't interested in the paradoxes inherent in time travel. It ...

By Daniel M. Kimmel of Worcester Telegram & Gazette (3/4) No reference
            The Jacket... is stylishly directed with the added benefit that it doesn’t seem like every other ...

By Steve Murray of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (6/1) Not Reachable
            Even if you take a "why-ask-why" approach toward this belief-suspension gimmick, The Jacket i...

                         Reviews of Jacket, The
By Jules Brenner of Cinema Signals (6/1) Not Reachable
            On each level: the human, the futuristic, the romantic, the legal, the ironic -- it remains consi...

By Jules Brenner of Cinema Signals (6/1) Not Reachable
            On each level: the human, the futuristic, the romantic, the legal, the ironic -- it remains consi...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (7/1) Not Reachable
            ...has the capacity to provoke thought and consternation.

Movie Distributors
Warner Independent Pictures
Paramount Pictures

Production Companies
Mandalay Pictures
2929 Productions
Summit Entertainment
Battle Plan Productions
LLC
Section Eight

Movie Studios
Warner Independent Pictures