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Reviews

STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED
Unmissable
Excellent
Good
Poor
Tragic

FILM DETAILS
Certificate
18
Cast
Tim Robbins
Elizabeth Pena
Danny Aiello.
Directors
Adrian Lyne.
Screenwriters
Bruce Joel Rubin.
Running Time
113 minutes

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Jacob's Ladder
Like a bad flashback to the Vietnam war.

Plot
Postal-worker Jacob Singer, a Vietnam vet, thinks is going postal. He is being besieged by weird visions, flashbacks to his former marriage, his dead son and the agonies of Vietnam. As his grip on sanity slowly slips, a figure from his past turns up with a shocking explanation.

Review

People tend to react to this strange film in one of two ways depending on their sensibility. It could speak to you as a profound meditation on death, a dense, dark, stylish fever-dream that hovers close to a horror movie (the battery of demonic doctors and entrail-strewn hospitals sees to that) and a paranoid governmental thriller, but whose elusive maudlin meanings will finally harken to the surrealistic chambers of David Lynch, Nicolas Roeg or Luis Bunuel. Alternatively, it could be interpreted as a somnambulistic smudge of pretension, whose slippery plotting allows its poseur of a director (Fatal Attraction’s flash dude Adrian Lynne) to fill the frame with whatever takes his fancy because the catch-all conclusion lets him off any narrative hooks.

From this angle it wavers between both interpretations: fake art with powerful undercurrents. It’s also a bit of chore to get through, as Tim Robbins, who can really switch on the dour if he wants, endures all the pop-eyed dementia Lynne can throw at him. Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin, who has fixated on death throughout his career (Ghost, My Life, Deep Impact), and drawing from Ambrose Bierce’s extraordinary metaphysical Civil War story, An Occurrence At Owl Creek, endeavours to conjure seething rhythms of religious fervour where existence starts to fragment. That he uses some sub-Oliver Stone prattling involving chemical testing in ‘Nam to glue his dissonance together rather undermines the elliptical power of his intentions. While Lynne seems to care about nothing more than festooning the film with shocking imagery and warped editing, and tempting us with Macaulay Culkin as an angelic presence (how history has undermined that one).

And yet, for all its anything-goes devilry, the film sticks with you. The images do strike a terrifying chord, the feverish answer driving you back through the dizzy paths of the movie to assemble its purpose. It achieves a lot less than it intends to, but how many commercial films contemplate the physical transition into death? Although, exactly how many want to?

Extras

Jacob's Ladder Jacob's Ladder
Released: 17 March 2003
Trailer.

Verdict
Despite all the confusion, it's a simple case of the script being too ambitious. It may emulate a man experiencing flashbacks, but it doesn't help the audience.

Reviewed by Ian Nathan

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Your Reviews
Average user rating for Jacob's Ladder

Entertaining, Edgy And Smart

The problem lies in the script's ambition to be that little bit smarter than is actually possible. ... More
Posted by blaud at 17:07, 21 September 2010 | Report This Post
Genuinely brilliant film.

Ian Nathan is one of my favourite Empire reviewers, and I usually agree with his assessment, but not this time. Jacob's Ladder is one of the most disturbing, well-measured and considered horror films I have ever come across. It achieves a genuine dream-like confusion that few films succeed in creating, and captures the dread feeling of a nightmare so precisely it is mesmerising. The visual design of the demons in this film strike a primal chord, and are beautifully haunting and disturbing. This ... More
Posted by lennybaby_2000 at 10:27, 05 March 2009 | Report This Post

Wow, what an experience. Really astounding in everything but a tangible storyline. Definitely the scariest film I've seen in a very long while, despite it actually being a kind of poem about death. Although most of it is left to be endlessly questioned without answer, it is nonetheless remarkably affecting. ... More
Posted by wooz at 01:28, 16 November 2007 | Report This Post
spook

still spooks in places, the screamy face in the back of the car is forever haunting ! great film ... More
Posted by jerkyjudas at 19:50, 15 April 2007 | Report This Post
A Spiritual Experience

The feeling you are left with when the movie is over is the most amazing part, for me. It is a strange reminder to live your life to the full, accepting and dealing with moments and events as they come to you and then moving on to enjoy the next one. Holding onto the past can make your life a living hell is something that Buddhists and our therapists have been telling us for years....Jacobs Ladder just said it in a much creepier way. When angels try to take you away from the earth and you jus... More
Posted by softlyspoknmagicspel at 00:52, 05 August 2006 | Report This Post
RE: One of the greatest horror movies ever!!!

A magic film. Wonderful, Just love it. Great performance from Tim Robbins. ... More
Posted by JIm R at 11:47, 29 March 2006 | Report This Post
RE: One of the greatest horror movies ever!!!

Two stars! What??! Its a well written,directed and spooky film! Slightly confusing and the ending possibly lets it down,but nonetheless a very creepy trip out film. ... More
Posted by Zygon at 22:04, 28 March 2006 | Report This Post
One of the greatest horror movies ever!!!

Two Stars! I love Empire's reviews but come on, they are comparing this classic to Cursed, Van Helsing andThe Ring 2. ... More
Posted by jamdodge1 at 20:09, 28 March 2006 | Report This Post

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Jacob's LadderLike a bad flashback to the Vietnam war.

Jacob's Ladder
Like a bad flashback to the Vietnam war.