Jacob's Ladder

I keep falling behind on writing these movie recaps. Maybe it's because most of what I've watched recently has been decent, but not spectacular. That kinda underrates Jacob's Ladder, a psychological horror movie from the early nineties that actually has a bit in common with another movie I recently watched, The Game; mainly the question of how much of what's happening on screen is 'really' happening. Basically you have Tim Robbins playing Vietnam veteran Jacob, just trying to get by working for the post office in New York and putting the horrors of his past and the war behind him. They do catch back up to him quickly though, and Jacob suddenly finds his city full of grotesque monsters out to kill him. Where are these hallucinations coming from? The movie is intercut with flashbacks to Jacob and his platoon in Vietnam- what really happened to them, and how is it affecting Jacob in the present-day? Is he going insane? Or is there something bigger at play here?

 

Jacob's Ladder is a scary movie, and one that can be pretty tough to watch at times as his hallucinations grow longer, more frequent and more hellish. It was apparently a big influence on the Silent Hill franchise of video games, which I didn't pick up on while watching but in retrospect seems pretty obvious. It all leads up to a bit of an obvious twist ending, but maybe I'm just jaded because big twists feel like they're in every other movie these days. Still though, I thought it was a very good movie even if the ending feels a little messy. One last notable thing I wanted to point out- while Jacob was played by Tim Robbins, none of the other main characters were played by people I had heard of. But the bit parts? Jacob's Ladder was just loaded with "that guys" and "that girls". Pre-Home Alone Macauley Culkin! Kyle Gass! Lewis Black! Ving Rhames! S. Epatha Merkerson! Eriq La Salle! There were so many "wait a minute, do I know them?" moments as all of these actors went on to some big breakout roles in the years following.