Jacob's Ladder
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Movie Reviews of Jacob's Ladder
Movie Review: Angels and Demons
Summary: 5 Stars
Very impressive movie by Adrian Lyne, who apparently was involved on a very personal level, as unfortunately his other work isn't exactly world shattering, but this one makes up for it all. Although it wasn't exactly a maverick move in 1990 to make a Vietnam film, this is certainly one of the most interesting ones on the subject. This is maybe a bold statement in view of the company this movie is in concerning this subject matter, but I do think it not to be an exaggeration.
What makes this movie so special? It sheds light on America's involvement in the war from an angle that is not often seen: the use of its own soldiers for experiments in chemical warfare on the one hand (macro story) and the thoughts, feelings, memories, dreams of the future of a veteran (micro story) on the other hand, which is a dramatically very effective combination, that really pulls the viewer in, especially if the main protagonist is performed so magnificently as is being done here by a very young Tim Robbins.
What makes the movie even more special is the structure, that gives shape to the story, causing the viewer in, what we would now call "Donnie Darko", fashion to be hurled through space, time and seemingly parallel realities, dipped in a horror genre type nightmarish atmosphere, which is pretty disturbing. As in Donnie Darko the viewer is repeatedly misdirected and so I've seen on many occasions that various viewers were equally moved as well as confused while looking at the credits rolling by, all the while enjoying the beautiful soundtrack which the movie can boast as well.
One can think of at least three different interpretations concerning the title of the movie, the first one being an obvious reference to the main protagonist's name Jacob Singer, the other two requiring some bible knowledge and patience until watching a major plot change halfway through the movie, that I can't expand upon without giving away crucial plot points. But anyway, who is this mister Singer, apart from the fact that he in view of what I stated earlier obviously is in Vietnam? In the opening scene we see him deployed there with his comrades in arms, having a, what seems to be a relaxed, break before what Sarah Palin would call a "surge". a kind of chilling on the battlefield I suppose. Suddenly explosions all around and the sound of helicopter flyby's, either panicking the soldiers or making them sick and throw up. Jacob runs but soon is on the receiving end of a bayonet. End of movie ... nah, next thing we see him wake up in a subway car, ah, so it was all a dream of that period and the war turns out to have ended a number of years ago. After his return from Vietnam Jacob gave up on college as, so he explains, "... didn't want to think anymore after the war", and drives a mail van. Still a bit in a daze over his dream he looks around in the car and notices his fellow passengers, a homeless person sleeping it off and a woman who keeps staring at him with a penetrating look who he asks whether "Bergen Street" stop has come and gone or not. The woman just looks at him strangely and no answer is forthcoming. As luck would have it the next stop turns out to be just the one he needed. As he's getting out and passes the homeless person, in a flash Singer sees a kind of wormlike creature quickly pulling back inside the man's coat. Quite disturbed by this he gets off the subway.
Next unpleasant surprise is the fact that the exit of the station is locked off and he will have to cross the track to try and get out on the other side. As he's walking across a new train is approaching but as it is unclear which track it's going to switch to, Singer is in a tough spot. At the last possible instant he leaps and the subway car passes him at a hair's breadth. As the train flashes by, in the cars we see a radiant white light and vague human shapes standing at the windows all looking out with at its end an unrecognizable figure which stares at Singer as the train disappears into the dark.
The atmosphere in this very strong opening is typical for the rest of the movie and we see how Jacob's life spirals down in an increasingly threatening and frightening way, with intermediate flashbacks to Vietnam as we see what happened to Jacob after the bayonet encounter. He loses his grip on reality more and more and has increasing difficulty in separating the real from imagination, past and present. A phone call from fellow veteran friend who desperately wants to see him and in the subsequent meeting turns out to suffer from the same type of experiences Singer is having. This starts off a series of discoveries into a dark affair, connected to their time in Vietnam.
There's a number of fascinating characters in this movie, first and foremost Jacob's chiropractor Louis, magnificently performed by Danny Aiello.
Naturally there's a whole lot more to this movie but that I wish for the viewer to discover. I've seen this movie many times with different people and each time it strikes me how much it moves them without fail.
Movie Review: Heaven and Hell
Summary: 5 Stars
Jacob Singer is doing OK.
For one thing, he has a safe job: postal clerk. Safe is important just now, because it's New York in 1974. You know, back in the good ol' days of double digit inflation, urban violence; the time the City was feeling the Heat, the air stank and reeked of sweat and death and misery. A few years after Kitty Genovese was slaughtered in the court of her tenement, and fifty people looked on and did nothing.
That New York. A Society cresting the wave of urban ruin, teetering over the Abyss.
So yeah, in this case, safe is good. Stable is good. Paid twice a month with benefits is good. If only it weren't for the things Singer has started to see in his seedy, decrepit New York borough. Things that lurk in dark alleyways, things that gibber from crowded stalls littered in cramped and filthy transit stations.
That, for sure, is Bad.
H.P. Lovecraft observed that "of Man's fears, the greatest is the fear of the Unknown." Adrian Lyne, hot from his successes as a chronicler of the sanguine effects of dangerous indiscretions (9 & 1/2 Weeks) and marital infidelity (Fatal Attraction), could have done anything with his newfound fame and power---and moved boldly and effectively into Lovecraft territory with this nasty mix of pure grue and sheer terror.
"Jacob's Ladder" is one of the creepiest films ever made, a film so gut-twistingly nasty that it can reduce the most steely-eyed, jaded horror vet to tears and cow-eyed panic.
Tim Robbins is Jacob Singer, a Vietnam veteran now returned home from the war and working as a postal worker---and seeing strange, nightmarish things. A homeless man in the subway has a tentacle for a hand, which withdraws, wormlike, into his tattered sleeve; a car tries to run Singer down on a lonely bridge, a featureless, quivering face pressed up against the dirty glass; a dance party turns into a shadow-haunted, blood-drenched abbatoir with a tentacled horror.
Even that wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for Singer's `other life' making housecalls: Singer keeps "waking up" into another life---one with a secure career, a house, a family, and adorable little Macaulay Culkin as his son. Another life removed miles and years from his dingy, increasingly insane postal clerk life.
Lyne keeps up the pace, as Singer tries to make sense of his descent into nightmare. Is he slipping into madness? Is this the result of being doused with a nerve agent in Vietnam, code-named "Jacob's Ladder", tested on GIs with the intent to make them killing machines---and succeeding wildly, with the slight side-effect of turning their blood frenzy on each other? Is there a government conspiracy to silence him? And which of the two lives is 'real'? Will the real Jacob Singer please stand up?
True horror films capture that sense of active but unseen malice, and build on a palpable atmosphere that is brooding, destructive, and malignant---and that is why there are so few of them. Jacob's Ladder is that rarest of film, a visual descent into a nightmare in which the horror boils directly out of the atmosphere, and is even more effective and masterful in that there is---at least, not initially---an identifiable villain or source of evil.
Robbins is well cast as a disintegrating man, nonetheless staving off the increasingly aggressive horrors while trying to make sense of them: he is perfect for the role, his doughy white face with its slab of pasty hair saying everything and nothing. Elizabeth Pena is also excellent as the postal employee (Jezebel) he shares a squalid apartment with, delivering a performance that is sensual, supportive, but somehow malignant, poisoned, fervid and diseased. Danny Aiello is solid, as always, in an intriguing role as Robbins's masseur; even Seinfeld star Jason Alexander has a small part as an intimidated attorney trying to help Robbins and his fellow veterans make sense of their damnation.
But good acting aside, the real star of Jacob's Ladder is the cinematography (Jeff Kimball, whose work here gave him a crack at "True Romance" and "Mission Impossible 2") and the malignant atmosphere. The onslaught of horrific, initially subtle, and truly nasty images that Lyne cooks up rank as some of the more unsettling in horror film history, and the sleazy, decrepit New York of the 1970's accentuates the film's nastiness and adds to the film's edginess.
Jacob's Ladder is like waking up in an unfamiliar bed, getting a blast of mace in the face, and then being dumped in a bathtub full of ice by unfriendly, anonymous hands---all in inky darkness---only to hear the whine of a buzzsaw in the dark reaches of the night.
Enjoy.
JSG
Movie Review: A TOTAL MINDF***
Summary: 5 Stars
'Jacob's Ladder' is a 1990 film directed by Adrian Lyne based on the screen-play by Bruce Joel Rubin. It stars Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena, and Danny Aiello.
Out story starts in 1971 during the Vietnam war. Somewhere along the Mekong Delta we find our protagonist, Jacob(Robbins)with his squad enjoying some downtime. All of the sudden, they are attacked by what they think are the Viet-Kong. In the ensueing chaos, Jacob is severly wounded. At the moment he is wounded, he wakes up on a subway train, telling it was a bad dream/memory/flashback.
6 years after the incident('77), We find that Jacob, although having a P.H.D., is working in the mailroom of the local post office. We also learn that Jacob was once married, and had three boys, but one died in a tragic car accident, which caused him to split from his wife(and perhaps lead him to enlist in the military). As the movie progresses, Jacob starts having increasingly terrible flashbacks, paraniod feelings, and hallucinations. The movie progresses to the point that Jacob completely loses his grip on reality, and can't grasp what real time is(neither can the viewer!) It turns out that Louis, Jacob's chiropractor, is the only one he can count on.
WOW....This movie is a total mindf***!! The ideas in this film had been used in a few films prior, but the way the movie unfolds is very unique, and very disjointed and non-linear. This movie is very 'emotive' and will definetly trigger an emotional responce, weather it be somber or anger. The plot of the film is somewhat ambiguous. You don't quite really know if this is a supernatural movie, or a movie about a man's psychosis; It walks a very fine line. This movie also serves as(partial)inpiration for the 'Silent Hill' game series, and the games have many references to this film. As soon as Jacob wakes on the train, Anyone who has played the games will immediatly get the Silent Hill 'vibe'.
The acting it outstanding. Every character has a reason, and comes across as sincier. Jacob goes through hell stacked upon hell, and Robbins carries this very passionatly. We care very much about Jacob, and strongly empathise with him.
The editing is what makes this movie what it is. The whole movie is non-linear, and one will find nothing but confusion trying to figure it out; just sit back, enjoy the ride, and it will unwind at the end. The film is littered with jump cuts, and are used to visually show Jacob's dimentia and hallucinations. The way the movie is set up is the viewer doesn't know what real-time is becasue Jacob doesn't know what real-time is.
The effects are pretty basic, but works well with the editing. Special effects are shown in quick cuts so the viewer never quit knows what they are seeing, again, this is to help visualize what is going on in Jacob's mind. The quick cuts only work to make the viewer feel uncomfortable.
The cinematography brings a very dark and creepy atmosphere to the movie. Many of the scenes are shot in a dark enviroment for the purpose of making the viewer uncomfortable.
The 'Hospital' scene pulls the editing, acting, and cinematography together in a VERY frightening way, and again, one can easily see the influence this has on 'Silent Hill'. This scene is the highlight of the movie(outside of the end)and remains of the most frightening moments in movie history!
I was 15 years old when I first saw this, and It left an impression on me that I had never seen in a movie before. This movie is a roller coaster, and will reek havok on your emotions and/or nerves. Many like this film, however some do not like it at all. It is VERY hard to watch Jacob lose his mind; This movie is a visual nightmare and some have been very p*ssed off by the end.
Speaking of the end:
The only words I can use to describe the end are 'Hauntingly Beautifull'. The first time I saw the end, I cried like a little girl, and that's saying alot because(even back then)I'm not the type to become emotional during films.
The one and only drawback is that this movie didn't do very well when it was released, and fell into cult obscurity. Over the years, many films have borrowed(or flat out stole)ideas from this flick, so after viewing other more popular films will come to mind.
By far the best psychological thriller ever made and gets the highest recommendation for this genre!!!!
Movie Review: Spoiler-free explanation of why I love it
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, I don't mean to sound holier-than-thou, but a GREAT many reviews of this film give away the entire ending to the film, even if they liked it! I'm not one of that camp, and greatly respect the others here who didn't overindulge their need for analysis in such a revealing way. Ok now with that out of the way, I'll say that Jacob's Ladder is, primarily, a drama, the story of Jacob, a Vietnam vet who is beginning to have troubling nightmares and hallucenations in which his real world is abruptly visited by what appear to be demons. This is where the scares are genuinely startling, enough to classify this film generically as a horror flick even though it isn't at all. You see, the demons Jacob sees appear utterly at random, at any time of day or night, in places safe and otherwise. And he doesn't see them with such regularity that they become boring to the viewer. Rather, they look like humans one second and then suddenly in the next frame they have abruptly become human only in appearance but with frightening features such as grotesque twitching movements and uninvited facial distortions. Describing it can't give it justice, you have to see them and the great editing techniques in which they are shown to see why they're truly so startling. The creatures are seen so suddenly without any tense musical buildup or cue, and usually also after enough normal time has passed, so when they do appear it's such a jarring shock that our reactions of fright aptly mirror those of Jacob himself. Well, once he sees these demons, Jacob tries to figure out what's wrong with him, since he has also been slipping into dreamlike episodes in which he can't tell (nor can we) if he is living or dead, asleep or awake, and which time frame is the real one. It is a confusing film in the storytelling structure, because it cuts back and forth between several apparently different times of Jake's life in which he has, alternately, 2 different wives and a son who is alive at one time and dead at another. The viewer doesn't know initially why Jacob is seeing things, when he's dreaming or not, and which of the lives he's experiencing is the real one. This is a storytelling choice, and it works. Don't worry, you won't be alone because all throughout the film Jake is asking himself why he's seeing things, why he keeps remembering earlier times with his 1st wife (or dreaming of a different life with a second wife), and what is real. Rest assured that by the end of the film you ARE given an ultimate answer that does make sense, but it's been argued that it's the weakest, "letdown" aspect of the movie. I heartily disagree because the ending is one of the several possible outcomes that are hinted at during the film, and I can assume that it was considered a letdown by some because they were hoping for something more profound, or possibly less profound depending on their tastes. But don't worry, I'm not trying to confuse you. As a whole, the movie is a quiet drama in which we follow along with Jacob, trying to figure out why he's seeing what he's seeing, and by the end we do get an absolute answer. It's worth viewing as a horror film as well (though I've pointed out I don't think of it as one) because the moments of shock and horror, and more than anything, just general creepiness, will linger with you for a while. Moments in a subway, a hospital, and (to me) the most disturbing scene in an alleyway will stick with you, and are echoed in films like Session 9 and the Silent Hill video game series (though in Session 9 the threats are far more unseen). If you've had enough patience to read to the end of this, I do urge you to watch this movie objectively, not worrying what the ending will be but instead putting yourself alongside Jacob and trying to digest the info you're being given. Hopefully by the end you'll feel that the last link was completed, and at the very least, you should have had a good chill or 2 down your spine.PS, IMPORTANT: Please note that while the Jacob's Ladder special edition dvd DOES contain the features listed in the Amazon description, those features ARE NOT listed on the dvd packaging. Don't worry, if you get that creepy dvd with an appropriately blurry Tim Robbins on the cover and the words "Special edition", you got the right disc. Good luck, and I sincerely hope you enjoy (and get freaked out by) Jacob's Ladder.
Movie Review: ***** DANTE'S INFERNO *****
Summary: 5 Stars
Jacob's Ladder open's with New York postal worker Jacob Singer waking on a subway train having just experienced a nightmare flashback to his time in Vietnam. Upset and confused he tries to ask his fellow passengers if he has missed his stop but as he passes them he sees flashes of tails and horns in the uncommunicative people whom he approaches for help. Exiting the train he finds the stairs to the subway locked and on crossing the tracks he narrowly misses being hit by a train coming in the other direction and whilst lying on the track he witnesses yet more disturbing images as the train passes by. Unsure whether these images are real or as a result of some form of post traumatic stress disorder from his time in `Nam, he struggles to keep his grip on sanity as his life becomes a nightmare, with his days punctuated by visions of demons, his first wife and his dead son. His life begins to unravel and the line between reality and delusion becomes ever more fragile. This is, in my opinion, by far and away Adrian Lyne's best movie, which may surprise some people given the fact his CV includes big box office hits such as 9 ½ Weeks, Indecent Proposal and Fatal Attraction. His direction is subtle, considered, well-paced and as near as you'll get to perfect. The cinematography is also excellent and the use of special effects are relatively understated but effective, which is something that can rarely be said since the advent of CGI. As for Bruce Joel Rubin's screenplay no praise is too high. It is intelligent, intricate and complex and it keeps you guessing until the end. In fact there is so much in this movie that second time around you'll find yourself picking up clues that you missed first time around and appreciate the cleverness and different levels of the story even more. Tim Robbins is excellent as Jacob, whom he succeeds in making a very sympathetic and vulnerable character, whose life literally becomes a nightmare. The supporting cast is excellent too with Elizabeth Pena (La Bamba, Rush Hour etc) and Danny Aiello (Leon, Do The Right Thing) in particular putting in notable performances. Jacob's Ladder also features supporting performances from Matt Craven (The Life of David Gale), Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) and Eriq La Salle (ER).
I first saw Jacob's Ladder at the cinema when it first opened back in 1990. I had read an article about it in a magazine, which was complete with disturbing still photographs from the movie. The article was intriguing in that it said that the screenplay, written by Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost) had been doing the rounds in Hollywood for several years but that although everybody agreed it was an excellent screenplay it had been considered unfilmable until Director Adrian Lyne got hold of it. On the day before seeing `Jacobs Ladder', for the first time, a review in the now defunct British newspaper `Today' described it as a five star classic and I still remember watching it in the cinema on its opening night, transfixed by the story and disturbed by the images, whilst jumping out of my seat a few times. I have loved this movie ever since and have loaned out my old VHS copy many times since then but what still surprises me is that so few people seem to know this movie or have seen this movie, which to me seems like a crime.
Perhaps Jacobs Ladder's lack of box office success can be put down to it often being classified as a horror movie, which is to do it an enormous disservice. Sure there are elements of Jacob's Ladder that can be compared to the horror genre but it is so much more than that. Complex, downbeat but also spiritually uplifting it was perhaps too intelligent and too disturbing to achieve a mass appeal. However, it still amazes me and saddens me that real dross such as Vanilla Sky has many people waxing lyrical when something as good, sorry excellent as this slips by relatively unnoticed. Jacob's Ladder I would suggest is a superior forerunner to movies such as Vanilla Sky and even The Sixth Sense and I highly recommend it!