I saw The Jacket, the latest disappointment from Warner Independent Pictures, a couple of weeks before I started this blog. Since it opens tomorrow I'll go ahead and post something about it.
The movie is an interesting study in applying indie film talent, in front of and behind the camera, to a Hollywood high concept story. A soldier returns from Iraq (the first war) only to be framed for murder and sent to a mental hospital where an evil doctor experiments with patients. A side effect of this experiment is time travel and in the future the soldier teams up with a young woman to find out what happened to him in the past.
Good enough, but the writing is no better than your average Hollywood action thriller. There's no excuse for this movie not to star Ben Affleck and whatever actress/model is in fashion when the cameras started rolling. Instead it stars Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley, with a supporting cast that includes Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kris Kristofferson and Daniel Craig. And it's directed by John Maybury, who has mostly obscure, arty, British indies to his credit.
The acting prowess and offbeat sensibility the players (especially Brody, Knightley and Leigh) bring to the material only highlights how conventional the plot really is. Ditto Maybury's overly stylized filmmaking. By the time the film reaches an illogical, but upbeat, conclusion there's little to do but marvel at the waste of talent and resources.
Not a good film, but an interesting one if you want to see good actors squandering their skills on a ridiculous story.
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