Rating of
3/4
"The Jacket" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 03/23/12
An Iraq war veteran sent home with serious head trauma is convicted of a murder he does not remember committing. While enduring an experimental "treatment" at the hands of a sadistic doctor, he suddenly finds himself somewhere and somewhen else. This off beat sci-fi fantasy has a lot of elements of familiar wish-fulfilment and time travel stories. His romance with emotional burn out Keira Knightley reminded me a little of Eternal Sunshine, the meddling with time aspect is very like The Butterfly Effect and the whole time travel/mental hospital scenario is very Twelve Monkeys. The thing that makes this film is the combination of great performances and the way that although it feels a little generic, it continually hops between those genres without feeling disjointed which keeps the story intriguing right til the end. Adrien Brody is excellent as the long suffering patient, as is an almost unrecognisable Daniel Craig as his Cuckoo's Nest style confidante. There are some nice visual flourishes and the direction is nice and tight, the film far from outstaying its welcome. I quite enjoyed the darker aspect of The Butterfly Effect and this film does something similar with a more mature approach.
