Jacob's Ladder [Blu-ray]

Incredibly clever and made me think about live

What an amazing film - Adrian Lynne got it absolutely note perfect: disturbing and enthralling in equal measures. Tim Robbins is perfectly cast as the Vietnam vet dealing with the horrific repercussions that refuse to leave him years after his return from the conflict.

Jacob's Ladder is a hallucinogenic psychological thriller that made myself hallucinate. Another film that has garnered cult status over the years, more so for its unique nightmarish flashback narrative structure. I honestly had to sit in silence for a good ten minutes and attempt to string some words together to surmise this film. Simply put: "A confusing mystery of confusing confusion". *sigh*...I'm going to need my notebook next time. Jacob is wounded during the Vietnam war, years later he starts to see hallucinations and experience depressing flashbacks which leads him to investigate the sudden mental visions. I mean...how do I even collate adjectives and superlatives to create a review for this? It's so bizarrely executed that it left me questioning if this was a hidden masterpiece or just difficult for the sake of melting the brains of the audience. Currently, I sit in the middle. It's an intriguing perspective into a heightened mind during a visceral heart-pumping experience such as the Vietnam War, where secret experiments with hallucinogens were utilised as a means to increase aggression. That aside, the primary appeal to this thriller is the intricate narrative structure. Is it real? Fabricated? Nostalgic memories or malicious nightmares? The careful construct of the plot will leave you questioning every scene up until its conclusion (which still left me scratching my head occasionally). It's rapid pacing, consistently blending ghostly fantasies with reality, which certainly needs to be adjusted to. The constant transitions between flashbacks is jarring, particularly for the first half, but stick with it and all will be answered. Robbins gives yet another exceptional performance as a man undergoing psychological delusions. My main negative is the fact it was so...how to put it..."in your face", that actually I cannot remember the majority of scenes. It's like a jigsaw puzzle, you don't remember slotting each piece in but you do acknowledge the final product. Jacob's Ladder is just that, an absurdly hallucinogenic jigsaw puzzle that definitely needs to be revisited again.

This is one of my favourite movies ever. A wonderful combination of thought-provoking and scary. It manages to do all this whilst dealing with some surprisingly deep meditations on life and death.I never like raving about a movie as it inevitably leads to disappointment, so if you want a thinking person’s thriller/horror movie, then I would certainly recommend.I just love the scene in the operating room though. The surgeon’s deadpan tone is spot on.

Bruce Joel Rubin the screenwriter has a particular interest in the non existence of death ('Ghost,' 'My Life') and this is a really beautifully constructed movie on this very theme. He also adheres to the classical notion that stories should have a beginning, a middle and an ending - an idea that Stendhal screwed up for ever! Very satisfying and thought provoking!

Jacob's Ladder opens with a brutal combat scene in Vietnam, and kicks off from there without any significant drop in intensity. While there is action, and some arresting and haunting imagery (which was very unique at the time, but may be considered tame by today's standards) the film leaves plenty of space for individual interpretation and discussion of themes and imagery.Jacob Singer is a haunted Vietnam veteran trying to live a normal life as a postal worker, but becomes increasingly erratic due to hallucinations and visions of demons. Is it all in his head or is something more sinister going on?While the film was released in 1990, it elicits and encourages thoughts about life, death, philosophy, religion among other things. A second viewing may be required to pick up on subtle themes and imagery. Critically solid, but maybe not so much commercially - this is not standard Hollywood fare.From a quality perspective, I watched this on blu-ray and the quality is average. There is certainly a degree of grain in the movie, and lacks the polished finish of modern movies. Despite this, I actually thought it enhanced the overall impact of the film. Jacob Singer's life and story is nowhere near polished, and the run down, gritty and squalid set pieces and locations only positively impact the overall quality of the blu-ray disc.

Having just visited Vietnam found this intriguing. Would like to find out if it is true about the drug they used on their own soldiers

Kind of my all time favourite horror movie.