Jacob's Ladder
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Movie Reviews of Jacob's Ladder
Movie Review: I'm not sure which is more annoying...
Summary: 5 Stars
...the bleating of the illiterati (professional critics included!) who totally missed the point, or the spoiler-laden dissertations of the cognoscenti who want to ruin the ending for you. Suffice it to say, this is neither a popcorn horror flick nor a heartwarming drama. Set in 1970s New York, Jacob's Ladder deals with the aftermath of one man's experiences in Vietnam. It's a cerebral "mess with your head" kind of film that will likely scare and disturb you. As in the more recent "Memento", plot twists invite continual re-evaluation of what has gone before. What really happened to Jake and his buddies on that fateful day in Vietnam? Has he left his wife for Jez (Elizabeth Pena) or hasn't he? Where is his son Gabe? Are his waking supernatural visions drug-induced hallucinations, PTSD, or something else? The best way to answer these questions is to stop reading (now!) and watch it for yourself a few times. There are many well-considered interpretations below, but most of them will ruin the experience.Movie Review: Challenging and Ethereal, You will Never Forget It
Summary: 5 Stars
Jacob Singer finds himself confused and unfulfilled, a mail carrier who drifts through 1970's Manhatten like a soul struggling in Purgatory. His wife, job and friends are pleasant enough but unfulfilling in a certain way he can't quite put his finger on. His memories of the past, including his tour of duty in Vietnam, are hazy at best, and his attempts at resolving that past are confronted with hostility by those who now inhabit his life.
Like a dream, which, upon awaking, reorganizes itself into some sort of cohesive storyline and logical progression -- Jacob's Ladder will befuddle those who look for chronology and answers. I have seen some call the ending a "surprise" but it is the most obvious explanation upon repeated viewings. Watch this movie with no prejudice. Then, watch it again. If you enjoy the biggest issues of life: death, love, loss, confusion, regret, and the ecstacy of closure - you will be immersed in them for days after viewing this movie.
Movie Review: Superb Supernatural Thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie makes others in the genre seem stupid and shallow (I am referring primarily to the recent Bruce Willis hit that I can't even remember the title of, it was so pale by comparison, but also to Whoopie Goldberg and "Ghost" and any and all recent movies that have paraded the same story-line). I suppose that the reason this one hit so close to home was the relationship of father and son, which is at the core of the film. It strikes me as very Shakespearian, approximate to Macduff's feeling for his slaughtered children in "Macbeth." There are no false notes in this film (something I always look for and am ready to pounce on). The direction and acting is sterling in every respect. Tim Robbins is highly believable in every frame and the film rings true in its representation of Purgatory. If our lives truly are distilled and presented to us as flash-card object lessons at the end of our sojourn, this work captures that notion brilliantly.Movie Review: No Spoiler Here
Summary: 5 Stars
Oddly enough, what I want to say is that "Jacob's Ladder" is one of the only movies about Viet Nam that I can watch. I was in high school during the Viet Nam war, and had my share of friends and friends' parents go there and die, or come back changed. However, there is so much more to "Jacob's Ladder" than Viet Nam. It is an intense psychological drama, a descent into madness, a realization of truth, and an ascent into clarity. I am not going to write a SPOILER - you can read dozens of reviews on this database that will spoil it for you. What I do not understand are the comments that it is confusing. I do not find it confusing in the least. The answers are all there. I first saw it in 1990, and I understood it then. I just saw it, again, in 2008, and all the answers are still there. Maybe you have to pay attention; you know, press pause when you go out to the kitchen for a tasty beverage. "Jacob's Ladder" is on my Top Ten All Time Best Films List.Movie Review: horror? well sure.
Summary: 5 Stars
if you are looking at this movie because you want a good horror movie, hold on a minute. i noticed the bad reviews are centered on that aspect and i think that's a problem. will this movie scare you? hell yes, but you have to let it. this isn't about being a horror movie (oddly, it never occured to me to consider it horror) this is a movie that draws you into the the life of the main character that just so happens to be horrific. this is one of the finer films i have seen in my life, but if you go into it with any preconseived notions of what the film should be then you do it a disservice by not allowing it to do what it does best.
this film takes you on a frightening paranoid journey through the characters persieved reality. it causes you to question all things theological and physical along the way, and alows you to inject your whole self into a fantastic escape from your own mundane existance.
this is what great filmmaking is about.