Review of Jacob's Ladder (1990) by James S — 04 Oct 2009

Drugs, going crazy, and government conspiracies... oh my! Jacob's Ladder (cleverly named btw) is a total mind trip about a Vietnam vet who is back from the war and is suffering for crazy hallucinations and a terrible sickness. Once this vet realizes the other surviving people from his squad may be having the same issues, he begins to unravel a government conspiracy.

Certain aspects of this film are a little bit dated, but for the most part it holds up very well. Although the acting was fair in this film, it is not what makes the movie. No one in particular stands out, but everyone does a nice job over all. To tell you the true I felt the strongest performance was from Jason Alexander. Tim Robbins really was good as well, especially in scenes where he was in extreme pain or sickness. What really stuck with me is the scene where he wakes up in the bath tube and he has an extraordinarily disturbing look on his face, with his blood shoot eyrs and his face being so pale.

What does in fact make this movie is the disturbing imagery and the engrossing storyline. A semi-downfall to happens to be the slow start, but once you really get into the meat of it you canâ??t wait to find out what happens next. The film does a good job at scaring you with out making stuff jump out at you every second; instead they used strange and disturbing imagery to mess with your mind. That and the blend of an enthralling storyline are what really make this movie a great one.

The end of the movie answers a lot of questions but also leaves a lot open for interoperation, which can be a good or bad depending on the person. I feel as though it was a strong way to end the movie and allows for it to be re-watched many times while getting something knew each time.

I feel this is a strong movie that is able to stand on its own throughout the years with out too much being taken away from it. It might be nice to see and update/remake of this movie if it was put in the right hands. I would think it would most likly would do well and bring attention back to the original. Even thought it took me about 5 months after renting it to actually view it, I'm glad I did and this will go down as one of the better thrillers I have scene.

"So, if you're frightened of dying and... and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth.".