Reviews of Jacob's Ladder 1990
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Jacob's Ladder is a strange film, a film that doesn't give you the whole picture, it drip feeds you bit by bit and although I had idea where it was going towards the end there was always a crucial piece that was kept out of sight, that kept you doubting yourself.
This feeling of having the answers just out of reach is enhanced by the strong visual style of the film which meshes the grimey, downtrodden New York of the…
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A fairly solid movie. The beginning of the story is designed to let you think about how everything is the way it is. It has some nice shilling scenes, but just as with Dark City they aren't exploited. They are just there and when everything starts to get somewhat interesting, they break the storyline with some uninteresting scene.
The last part of the film is just... well it feels kind of wrong.. I can't really put my finger on what's…
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I came to find Silent Hill, I stayed for... everything else.
Let's first get clear on the fact that Jacob's Ladder is not a "hard" horror film, as in there are practically no scares despite the on-screen scary elements. This film is 100% psychological (and philosophical, possibly also metaphysical), and delivers an initial horror and mystery, then plays on those and reveals what's hidden behind them.
Jacob's Ladder's disjointed structure, multiple flashbacks and actual dream sequences make sure that it… -
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The Matt Craven character never said "I can block the ladder." He said it in the trailer (which we all saw a gazillion times), but not in the finished movie. WTF? I mean, that sounded kind of key. If he could block the ladder, all Tim Robbins's troubles could be solved. Whatever, man. That kind of clanging continuity error can only be evidence of a project that either A) had too many cooks in the kitchen, B) never had a clear idea what it wanted to be, or C) both A and B. Either way, I have rarely felt so ripped off by a movie.