The Jacket (2004)
Warner Home Video
Cast: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Extras: Documentary, Featurette, Theatrical Trailer
Rating:

Disoriented and often frayed timelines, told mostly through flashbacks, is how British director John Maybury presents the story of ’The Jacket.’ Adrien Brody plays Gulf War veteran Jack Starks, who suffers a head wound that causes him to experience a rather serious spell of amnesia. This curiously bizarre story also has Jack accused of possibly murdering a policeman, which results in Jack being sent to an institution for rather barbaric treatments of isolation administered by a doctor, played by Kris Kristofferson. During these sessions, Jack experiences strange situations after he discovers that he will die in four days if he doesn’t solve a mind bending puzzle that leaves Jack struggling with the possibility of altering future events that could affect his life, as well as the individuals around him. ’The Jacket’ features solid supporting roles from Keira Knightley, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brad Renfro and Kelly Lynch.

Warner Home Video presents ’The Jacket’ in a nice clean anamorphic transfer, which displays very little compression artifacts or grain. The level of detail in the transfer is very high while colors are well balanced and nicely rendered, especially during the many flashback-sequences. Skin tones also appear quite natural-looking. Blacks are rich, deep and well defined.

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and showcases a well-balanced sound mix that utilizes all appropriate channels. Dialogue is natural sounding and never appears too harsh or thin.

As extras this DVD release includes an informative documentary titled ’The Jacket: Project History and Deleted Scenes,’ a featurette titled ’The Look of The Jacket’ and the movie’s original theatrical trailer.

I found ’The Jacket’ to be a somewhat decent film that does tend to present itself in a rather unbalanced way. Fans of films such as ’Memento’ will more than likely enjoy this often strange little mind twister.