Sitting down to watch Jacob’s Ladder I was a little nervous. But not because the movie was scary or anything like that. No, the last time I watched Jacob’s Ladder
(about thirteen years ago) was the first time in my life I ever touched
a vagina. And after watching it again last night, I have some pretty
good insight into my demented skull. What a horrible movie to finger
some stink! Oh well, when the opportunity presents itself… decisive
action… gift horse’s mouth. Um, ahem, yeah… Since then it has been
many more vaginas and (sadly) way more films, just thinking about Jacob’s Ladder is emotional for me… The above is just one of those “I’m just saying” paragraphs. Shut up.
The film is concerned with Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins), a Vietnam
vet who has some problems. Namely, he keeps seeing demons everywhere he
looks and more often than not, they are trying to kill him. Told
through the heavy use of flashback and narrative displacement, as the
viewer you are never actually sure where Jacob is. Is he in hell, dead?
Is he with his new girlfriend Jezzie? Is he back at home with his
estranged wife? Is he bleeding to death on a helicopter in Vietnam?
Jacob, who is living through all the craziness, is the least sure of
all. The movie is heavy on religious themes (at one point Jacob calls
Danny Aiello an Angel–and then an over-stuffed cherub) and when that
doesn’t scare you bad enough, it uses lots of quick cuts and loud
noises to spook you real good. Oh, and there’s a dead kid motif, too,
and well, I just hate that. Also, it must be said that the constant use
of flashbacks, while I guess instrumental to the plot, left me
confused. Leaving viewers confused because a film is thought provoking
is one thing, and admirable. Leaving viewers confused because, well,
the story is confusing, is lazy and a little insulting.
Still, the movie was sufficiently creepy for me not to hate it
(it’s a good watch) and for me to pay close attention, looking for
meaning. There isn’t any, but I looked regardless. Much like tryuing to
decipher Pink Floyd or Led Zepplin lyrics–there’s nothing there but
you’re stoned, so you try regradless. Also, I wanted to see what spooky
thing happened next. Many of the scenes were in fact well acted and
more often than not, well directed. In fact, the scenes without the
monster effects and the jump cuts and the spastically shaking heads
were the most effective to me. Like when Jake’s Lawyer (Jason
Alexander) tells him he doesn’t have a case. Or when Jake and Jezzie
are just goofing around in bed. Strong acting. But over all, the film
is basically a gigantic “so what?” Jacob’s Ladder takes itself
far too seriously at every turn. I know, I know, I know it is a
thriller, but come on! Every moment of Jake’s waking life is filled
with existential terror? Bullshit, and besides, that’s my bag.
Actually, to be fair, the majority of the movie is quite right on, it
is just the payoff at the end–the lazy payoff–that left such
a bad taste in my mouth (it’s all a dream–I hate that). I’m flailing
about here because on the one hand I remember being really engaged as I
watched Ladder last night, but then on the other, thinking
back after three hours sleep, the movie is pretty pointless. A good way
for teenagers to creep themselves out, I guess, but not meaningful
enough for adults to find any lasting value. Save for the artistic
aspects.
The production design and cinematography were intense in this
film. First of all, the New York there were using was straight out of Midnight Cowboy. Burnt, decrepit, bleak and gray. The New York of Taxi Driver.
A hard place, to be sure, and the bland color saturation only added to
the coldness of the sets and the grimness of everyone’s mood.
Especially Jake and Jezzie’s apartment, which contained no lamps, only
diffused light peeking in from behind closed curtains. The whole city
felt like a morgue. True, there were too many jump cuts, black screens
and four-frame-per-second techniques employed for me to find it truly
terrifying (when “horror/terror” becomes a trick of the camera, it is
exactly that–a trick), but early on there were some legitimately
upsetting moments. My favorite was quite early on when Jake is on the
subway and he sees a presumably homeless man asleep on a bench. As he
is getting off the train he looks and there is a big pink
penis/tentacle thing contracting underneath the man. He does a double
take, and there it is again. Very cool. Also, when Jezzie’s eyes
suddenly go black, well, didn’t see it coming and it spooked me good.
And made me horny, apparently.
Fatally, the plot is a mess. He’s being haunted by demons, OK,
that’s cool, but what the hell does that have to do with Vietnam? It is
one of those unfortunate situations where the writer (the same guy who
wrote Stuart Little 2) could only explain all the sick,
convoluted shit by making it all a dream. And I hate that. It’s like
pick one or the other, You don’t need to have a massive military cover
up (Jake and his Battalion were experimented on with uber-potent
hallucinogenic drugs) and have the whole demon/hell angle. One
will suffice. What’s that? The drugs are making the men see demons? I
thought the drugs make the men hyper-violent? They do both? How in the
hell do you explain that? It’s just a dream before dying? Welcome to
the world, buddy. I feel strongly that the writer was just trying to be
as creepy as possible, throwing in every bit of hermetica and gloomy
lore he could get his hands on. Giving the deficiencies of the script,
director Lyne and the actors did an admiral job. Too bad it means nothing.
DVD Note: There are some pretty “trippy” deleted scenes on the disk I got. With director’s commentary. Though he never says why
he chose to omit them. Curiously, two of the three scenes take place
right at the end and one is about eight minutes long. Jacob is given
the “antidote,” which you would think would be a major plot point. It’s
not. One cool thing to look for is the giant eye. Creepy, like the
penis/tentacle in the beginning.
Review Posted: 5.27.05
^ Top
Forum >