The Jacket

Revived after being declared dead from a gunshot wound to the head, bewildered Gulf War veteran Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) suffers from delusions and retrograde amnesia--which is why, he's told, he doesn't remember killing a Vermont state trooper, a murder that has placed him into a foreboding psychiatric prison. But when Jack becomes the subject of "reprogramming" experiments, he slips into a world of nightmare and fantasy that quite unexpectedly congeals into visions of a future in which Jack finds out he's already dead, a second time. In this future, a mysterious, case-hardened young diner waitress (Keira Knightley) helps him investigate his past--and he soon discovers she's connected to his fate far more than either of them realized. The Jacket could have become cerebral junk-food, like last year's logic-deficient time-travel/alternative-reality B-movie The Butterfly Effect, but director John Maybury's background in experimental film heavily influences his cinematic style, and he keeps the film grounded in the familiar while still conveying a sense of reality that remains shrewdly vague. Brody (The Pianist) and Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean) give completely gripping performances, which help make up for an unnecessary romantic subplot and a small handful of dubious plot points. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include project history and deleted scenes (29 min.), a special effects featurette (9 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a small but solid extras package for an interesting film.] (R. Blackwelder)