Matthew Winant - The Jacket (2/19/2009)

I was very pleased with viewing The Jacket, it was one of those movies that I never saw because the majority of critics claimed it was an awful movie. After class, I reviewed some of the articles reviewing the film and saw that it received such low scores because while the movie is categorized under “Thriller” there were not enough triller moments to make it a good, or even bearable movie for this critics. They have missed the most critical moments and themes within the film; love, compassion, redemption. The most crucial part of the movie that I focused on was the ending. The last line of the movie is Jackie asking Jack, “How long do we have?” while the car drives away from the sunset. My immediate answer was that Jack is forever in 2007, the reason that he kept traveling back to 1992 was because he was alive in that time. Because Jack finally died in the drawer in 1993 he will live forever in 2007, whether 2007 is real or just an allusion. Also, as a side note, did anyone else feel that it was creepy that Jack was “dating” Jackie in the future, but acting like her father in 1993? This to me was messed up, but shouldn't take anything away from the powerful moments in the film.