# The Jacket
**The Jacket** is a 2005 psychological thriller directed by John Maybury in which an amnesiac [Gulf War](https://www.edgepedia.org/gulf-war) veteran, wrongly committed to a mental institution for a murder he cannot remember, discovers that an experimental treatment lets him travel to the future, where he learns of his own impending death.[1](https://westendfilms.com/library/the-jacket) • [2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0366627/) It stars [Adrien Brody](https://www.edgepedia.org/adrien-brody), Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and [Daniel Craig](https://www.edgepedia.org/daniel-craig), and was produced by George Clooney, Steven Soderbergh, and Peter Guber.[1](https://westendfilms.com/library/the-jacket)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | John Maybury; screenplay by Massy Tadjedin from a story by Tom Bleecker and Marc Rocco[1](https://westendfilms.com/library/the-jacket) • [3](https://moviearchive.phase9.tv/movies/jacket.shtml) |
| Principal cast | Adrien Brody (Jack Starks), Keira Knightley (Jackie Price), Kris Kristofferson (Dr. Thomas Becker), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Dr. Beth Lorenson), Daniel Craig (Rudy Mackenzie)[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366627/fullcredits) |
| Release | March 4, 2005 (wide, United States), Warner Independent Pictures; rated R[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jacket) |
| Production | Section Eight Ltd., Mandalay Pictures, Warner Independent Pictures, 2929 Productions; music by Brian Eno[6](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/51734/) |
| Box office | $6,301,131 domestic on a $28,500,000 production budget; opening weekend $2,723,682 in 1,331 theaters[7](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Jacket-The) |
| Critical reception | Metascore 44 from 35 reviews; 43% on the Tomatometer against 73% from audiences[8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-jacket/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jacket) |
| Filming | Shot in Scotland and Canada, with support from Scottish Screen and the Glasgow Film Office[3](https://moviearchive.phase9.tv/movies/jacket.shtml) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film opens in 1991, when Jack Starks, a sergeant in the U.S. Marines stationed in the Persian Gulf War, suffers an almost lethal head wound from gunfire that costs him his memory as a result of the trauma. Released from medical care with no relatives and nowhere to go, he returns to his native Vermont.[3](https://moviearchive.phase9.tv/movies/jacket.shtml)
Nine months later, accused of a murder he has no recollection of committing, Starks is sent to a mental hospital. There Dr. Thomas Becker ([Kris Kristofferson](https://www.edgepedia.org/kris-kristofferson)) subjects him to a treatment plan of mysterious injections, sensory deprivation, and confinement in a straitjacket, locked in a body drawer of the basement morgue.[1](https://westendfilms.com/library/the-jacket) • [9](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-jacket) The process sends him into the future, where he can foresee his own death in four days' time, though not who causes it or how.[9](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-jacket) In the future he meets Jackie ([Keira Knightley](https://www.edgepedia.org/keira-knightley)), a young woman with a special connection to his past, and with the help of a female doctor who believes he is innocent he tries to piece together his shattered memories and change his fate.[9](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-jacket)
## Production
The project spent years in development before Maybury joined. In May 2003, [Summit Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/summit-entertainment) added the film, a Mandalay Pictures production, to its sales slate with [Mark Wahlberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-wahlberg) attached to star in what was described as Maybury's first US film; domestic distribution was set with Warner Bros.[10](https://www.screendaily.com/summit-dons-mayburys-jacket/4013516.article) Maybury later said the screenplay had circulated in Hollywood for about four years and had been set up as an [Antoine Fuqua](https://www.edgepedia.org/antoine-fuqua) film with Colin Farrell, part of a trend of memory-based films following *Memento* and *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*. He described his version as "a romance that has a subtext about being about Guantanamo Bay."
The film was a co-production between Mandalay and Section Eight, the Warner-based company of [Steven Soderbergh](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-soderbergh) and [George Clooney](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-clooney), with [Peter Guber](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-guber) producing for Mandalay Pictures.[3](https://moviearchive.phase9.tv/movies/jacket.shtml) It was backed by the German media funds VIP 2 Medienfonds and VIP 3 Medienfonds as well as Scottish Screen, and shot in Scotland and Canada.[6](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/51734/) • [3](https://moviearchive.phase9.tv/movies/jacket.shtml) Brody prepared for the morgue-drawer scenes partly by trying a sensory deprivation chamber he found in Glasgow, where the film was shooting.[11](https://www.hollywood.com/general/the-jacket-interviews-adrien-brody-jennifer-jason-leigh-and-director-john-maybury-57167655)
The creative crew included cinematographer Peter Deming, editor Emma E. Hickox, production designer Alan MacDonald, and composer [Brian Eno](https://www.edgepedia.org/brian-eno).[6](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/51734/)
## Release and box office
Warner Independent Pictures released the film wide in the United States on March 4, 2005 in 1,331 theaters.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jacket) • [7](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Jacket-The) The opening weekend grossed $2,723,682, 43.2% of the eventual domestic total of $6,301,131, and the film left most theaters within weeks, dropping from 1,331 screens to 502 by its third weekend.[7](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Jacket-The) Against a production budget of $28,500,000, the worldwide total of roughly $15.5 million reported by The Numbers put the return on budget at about 0.54 times.[7](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Jacket-The) • [12](https://boxofficewatch.com/movies/the-jacket) [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) reports a higher worldwide figure of $21,126,225, with $6,303,762 domestic and $14,822,463 international across a rollout of 31 markets ending September 28, 2006; the two trackers disagree on the international total.[13](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2220525057/)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed. Metacritic assigned a metascore of 44, based on 35 critic reviews, classifying it as mixed or average, while its user score stood at 7.3.[8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-jacket/) On Rotten Tomatoes the film held 43% among 159 critics against 73% from more than 50,000 audience ratings, with the critics consensus calling it "a case of creepy style over substance."[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jacket) [Individual](https://www.edgepedia.org/individual) reviews ranged widely: the Dallas Observer called it "the first great film of 2005" and [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hollywood-reporter) praised Maybury's "mesmerizing mindblower," while USA Today judged it "a confused attempt at headiness that feels like a poor man's *Memento*."[14](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366627/criticreviews/) • [8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-jacket/) A Christian Science Monitor review placed it as a commercial project with a big-name cast blending intrigue with references to the Persian Gulf War.[15](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/2005/0304/p14s02-almo.html)
## Themes and interpretation
The film belongs to the early-2000s wave of memory-fragmentation thrillers that Maybury himself identified, and academic writing has grouped it with *Jacob's Ladder* as a war-haunted psychological narrative; one dissertation notes that where *Jacob's Ladder* is set in the Vietnam War, *The Jacket* addresses the Gulf War in Iraq and Kuwait in 1990-91.[11](https://www.hollywood.com/general/the-jacket-interviews-adrien-brody-jennifer-jason-leigh-and-director-john-maybury-57167655) • [16](https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/1711/1/Straw11PhD.pdf) Maybury's own framing of the asylum material as a subtext about Guantanamo Bay ties the institutional confinement scenes to contemporary political debate.[11](https://www.hollywood.com/general/the-jacket-interviews-adrien-brody-jennifer-jason-leigh-and-director-john-maybury-57167655)
## References
1. [The Jacket, WestEnd Films library](https://westendfilms.com/library/the-jacket)
2. [The Jacket (2005), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0366627/)
3. [The Jacket (2005), Phase9 Movie Info Archive](https://moviearchive.phase9.tv/movies/jacket.shtml)
4. [The Jacket (2005) full cast and crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366627/fullcredits)
5. [The Jacket, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jacket)
6. [The Jacket, Cineuropa film database](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/51734/)
7. [The Jacket (2005), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Jacket-The)
8. [The Jacket reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-jacket/)
9. [The Jacket, American Film Institute](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-jacket)
10. [Summit dons Maybury's Jacket, Screen Daily (2003)](https://www.screendaily.com/summit-dons-mayburys-jacket/4013516.article)
11. ["The Jacket" interviews: Adrien Brody, Jennifer Jason Leigh and director John Maybury, Hollywood.com](https://www.hollywood.com/general/the-jacket-interviews-adrien-brody-jennifer-jason-leigh-and-director-john-maybury-57167655)
12. [The Jacket box office, Box Office Watch](https://boxofficewatch.com/movies/the-jacket)
13. [The Jacket release summary, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2220525057/)
14. [The Jacket (2005) Metacritic reviews, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366627/criticreviews/)
15. ['The Jacket' is an awkward fit, Christian Science Monitor (2005)](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/2005/0304/p14s02-almo.html)
16. [Straw, PhD thesis, University of Birmingham](https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/1711/1/Straw11PhD.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works) › Science fiction and fantasy films of the 2000s › Science fiction films of the 2000s*
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