...
Jacob's Ladder features Tim Robbins as Jacob; a Vietnam veteran who spends him time in New York with his girlfriend(being divorced) working as a mailman. He is haunted in dreams by the death of his son(Macauley Culkin) and of a viscious attack he suffered during the war, where he was skewered ... Read review
Jacob's Ladder tells the truely terrifying story of a traumatised Vietnam war veteran who ... more
as he returns to civilian life begins to hallucinate. Visualising horned creatures and visited by his dead son Jacob Singer downwardly spirals into a life of ...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
InJacob's Ladder, Vietnam veteran Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) thinks he is going insane. Or ... more
worse. When his nightmares begin spilling into his waking hours, Jacob believes he is experiencing the after-effects of a powerful drug tested on him during Viet...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2003 - Drama - Director: Michael Winterbottom - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Om Puri, Jeanne Balibar
Jacob's Ladder features Tim Robbins as Jacob; a Vietnam veteran who spends him time in New York with his girlfriend(being divorced) working as a mailman. He is haunted in dreams by the death of his son(Macauley Culkin) and of a viscious attack he suffered during the war, where he was skewered by a bayonet. These dreams become progressively more vivid and begin to infilitrate his waking hours as well as his sleeping ones, as ... .../>
A box office failure, Jacob's Ladder is the product of a screenplay which had apparently been floating around Hollywood for 10 years before Lyne finally snatched hold of it and made this unique movie. Apparently Lyne dumped some of the preachy religious elements and heightened the ambiguities to achieve the effect seen in Jacob's Ladder. The movie flashes back to the war and some horrific scenes as Jacob decends into madness(?) and back to the ... more
Following on from the smash hit Fatal Attraction, Adrian Lyne comes up with another superb piece of filmaking. Gone, this time are the trashy storylines and pandering to the wants of the masses and in its place comes a really strange, but equally compelling horror movie/psychological drama.
Jacob's Ladder features Tim Robbins as Jacob; a Vietnam veteran who spends him time in New York with his girlfriend(being divorced) working as a mailman. He is haunted in dreams by the death of his son(Macauley Culkin) and of a viscious attack he suffered during the war, where he was skewered by a bayonet. These dreams become progressively more vivid and begin to infilitrate his waking hours as well as his sleeping ones, as he begins to suffer from nightmarish visions. He sees demons on the streets of New York, horror in the subway and a party turns to a room full of demonic winged creatures who attack him. Is Jacob going insane, or are the demons real? Jacob tries to find out...
A box office failure, Jacob's Ladder is the product of a screenplay which had apparently been floating around Hollywood for 10 years before Lyne finally snatched hold of it and made this unique movie. Apparently Lyne dumped some of the preachy religious elements and heightened the ambiguities to achieve the effect seen in Jacob's Ladder. The movie flashes back to the war and some horrific scenes as Jacob decends into madness(?) and back to the present where the demons haunt the suddenly empty streets. It is a truly frightening experience, one of the few movies which has effectively unsettled me through watching it. Yes, it comes across initially as being a mess and hard work to follow, but its well worth the effort to keep watching. Tim Robbins performance as the frightened, delusional(?) Jacob is absolutely amazing, easily the best of his career and much overlooked in terms of awards and praise and Adrian Lyne's direction is superb.
Part of the horror and sheer brilliance of this movie is its very ambiguity. The opening scene is at best vicious, at worst, down right horrible, but is an essential element of the jigsaw puzzle Lyne asks you to piece together as the movie progresses. Don't be fooled at this point that its just another war movie and switch off, because it certainly isn't that. Equally don't be fooled into thinking its just another horror movie or that it just doesn't make any sense as it progresses and start reaching for the remote either, because you will be missing out on a real treat. Yes, you have to CONCENTRATE if you intend to get the full benefit of this movie and there really isn't time to nip out and make a cup of tea...sorry. Don't concentrate and it will lose you...its that simple. The plot outline I have given you above is extremely weak, I'll admit that, but I really hate to spoil a good movie and anything more than a cursory sideways glance at the storyline in this particular movie could only go to do just that. Anyway, any opinion i could give on the storyline would probably differ from what you yourself go out of it and therefore its best to watch with an open mind free from other people's opinions. Just remember the title of the movie...its important.
I can not fault this movie, as even the bad points are over shadowed by those which are so very, very good. If you have never seen Jacob's Ladder, then this movie ought to be at the top of you 'must see'. Frightening, complex and overall extremely clever, Jacob's Ladder is a unique movie.
Advantages: Gripping, thought provoking masterpiece! Disadvantages: None
Jacob’s Ladder is one of those unappreciated works of excellence, unappreciated in the sense that it was a box office failure, and few people know its existence. I asked my film-marketing friend what he thought and his insightful response was “Huh?” It is hard to believe that a respectable film critic such as my friend has never heard of this little gem!
Tim Robbns plays the role of Jacob, a Vietnam War veteran working as a mailman in New York. ... ...apartment, having to see a chiropractor to help him cope with crippling back pain (Louis, his chiropractor is a character to be taken notice of), and trying to come to terms with terrible memories of the war and even more devastating, the loss of his little boy in a tragic accident, still grieving though years have passed. Jacob leads a less than charmed life. But things suddenly seem to get worse; people are not whom they appear to be, times and ...
JsByrne 12.09.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Jacob's Ladder (DVD)
Advantages: A Hollywood movie with a good plot line. Horror for those with intelligence. Disadvantages: I've been told it is a bit slow. Suffers from hype.
Jacob’s Ladder had the tag line “The scariest thing about this movie is that it’s real”. I am not sure I would agree with that. I remember a time when myself and a group of friends where sitting around, flicking through the video collection, trying to decide what to watch when it become apparent one of them (Evil Pawl) hadn’t seen Jacob’s Ladder.
“How is this possible?” we all asked the puzzled Pawl. “Jacob’s Ladder is one of the best films ever ... ...hype and fan fare the video was slotted in and the play button pressed.
Nothing happened. Well, that’s not true. Jacob’s Ladder started to play but Pawl didn’t break down in front of the television set and weep, “This is the best movie ever made!” As a matter of fact, Pawl looked rather bored. We made him watch it anyway. It works like a drug, you see, a drug that you’re not initially aware of but only once the insidious infection has taken control ...
Manx 14.12.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Jacob's Ladder (DVD)
Advantages: Brilliant twist Disadvantages: Bit confusing
This film follows a Vietnam Veteran who is convinced that he was given aggression enhancing drugs during the conflict. He slowly gathers a group of fellow vets with similar experiences. Gradually his hallucinations take over his life . He hops back and forth between different periods of his life. The film build up to an ending that cannot be guessed by even the most twisted individual. A dark and disturbing film that leaves you doubting reality. ...
kitt 30.07.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Jacob's Ladder (DVD)
Advantages: Cinematography was good, as well as acting Disadvantages: The feeling of being cheated by the end.
A friend of mine recommended watching this film. I'd always fancied it, but never took the plunge.
Being the sort of viewer that enjoys clever psychological horror, I thought why not? And now I know the reason why not!
Already being warned that the film got off to a slow start, I was still amazed to find that I was nearly falling asleep by the end of the first hour. To me a slow start is the first half hour, not nearly 60% of the film.
When the ... ...movie. The acting was good, and the atmostpheric scenery was interesting.
Having said that by the end of the film I fell totally cheated. Usually the catagory of film this one falls into, have a much more intelligent script to countermand this feeling. Getting to the end of the film, and feeling like throwing something at the screen in digust is not my idea of a great movie. (I shan't ruin it if you want to watch it!)
The central concept is sound ...
expert_info 23.03.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Jacob's Ladder (DVD)
Advantages: UNUSUAL STORY LINE Disadvantages: MOST BE ABLE TO CONCENTRATE TO FOLLOW IT
Jacob`s ladder is a film that could seriously blow your mind , I watched it twice before I grasped the full meaning , the plot twist in the end must rank among the most surprising film endings of all time , Tim Robbins puts in an excellent and compelling performance , basically the film is about one soldiers story there is action, excitement, mystery, horror, but I certainly would not want to spoil anything by telling you about how it all ends. This ...
welshgold 13.07.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Jacob's Ladder (DVD)
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to ...
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Jacob's Ladder (DVD)"
Advantages: Great movie Disadvantages: Some slow parts, targeted at a specific audience
find the evil that is Valek and destroy him at the only time they can, during daylight. However more trouble is to cross there path, how will the trio find Valek? How can they destroy such a powerful master, it would be difficult to force him into the open, and soon perhaps maybe even sunlight could not stop one so powerful...?
What is for sure that this movie is definitely worth the watch, for the most part it will leave you thinking this is incredible, and on occasions yes you may be thinking is it over yet. However overall I believe this is a good movie that would appeal to anyone who loves action films, but more particularly to anyone who loves occult movies. For instance, Queen of the damned, Jacob's ladder, Dracula 2000 etc. This film is great and well worth seeing.
Disk: This DVD has five options which are as follows, Play movie ...
Advantages: Special effects are quite spectacular, true Speilberg style Disadvantages: Weak story line
starred in Lord of the Rings but only has a few words to say in this movie.
Dakota Fanning as Rachel, could be the next Drew Barrymore, watch this space.
Tim Robins as Ogilvy (astronomer), Mystic River and JacobsLadder fame,
Justin Chatwin (Robbie). Who?
Special Edition DVD disc 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scenes include:
Revisiting the invasion
The HG Wells LegacySteven Spielberg And The Original War Of The Worlds
Designing The Enemy Tripods And Aliens
Photo gallery
Box Set is PAL and region 2.
Dolby and Wide screen.
Film Length 1 hour and 40 minutes
Language is English
To Sum It All Up
~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry folks not as good the HG Wells classic. There were a large group of us seeing this and we left the cinema with the same mixed emotions. The DVD is not much better but Spielberg does deliver some memorable moments ...
"...A slick, riveting, viscerally scary film....Played with disarming ease and sharp, frightening urgency by [Robbins]..." (New York Times, p.C12, 02/11/1990)
DVD Description
Adrian Lyne's JACOB'S LADDER moves in time and space between Vietnam and New York with hallucinatory force. Something bad happened on the Mekong Delta, on October 6, 1971, and it is still affecting war veteran Jacob (Tim Robbins) in Brooklyn as he attempts to live a normal life with coworker and girlfriend Jezzie (Elizabeth Pena). Louis (Danny Aiello), an understanding chiropractor, tries to help him cope with his nightmarish visions--some of which occur at night, while others intrude into his daily life. When Jacob gets a call from Paul (Pruitt Taylor Vince), who was with him in Vietnam, it seems that Jacob is not alone in his visions. The film offers impressive and compelling performances by Pena, Aiello (no ordinary chiropractor), and Ving Rhames and Eriq La Salle (the latter of ER) as Jacob's comrades from Vietnam. Macaulay Culkin appears uncredited as Jacob's young son, Gabe. Director Lyne also guides an unerring interpretation of Bruce Joel Rubin's screenplay in Robbins's powerfully restless, searingly searching performance as Jacob; brilliant editing additionally rounds out this engrossing, disturbing film. JACOB'S LADDER is a jolting experience that is not easily forgotten.
Compare Jacob's Ladder (DVD) to other similar Drama »
A "Grimm-er" Live Action (PG) Take on This Classic Brothers Grimm Tale, Directed by the Screenwriter/Co-Author of Edward Scissorhands (Caroline Thompson)
Possibly Not Suitable for Younger Children (not Disney Animation "Pretty-Pretty" version) - Miranda Richardson dominates the action and steals the show as the stepmother. (*)
![Jacob's Ladder [DVD] [1991]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78535878.jpg)
![Jacob's Ladder [Explicit] - Jc (MP3-Download)](http://images.ciao.com/ide/images/icons/no_pic_generic_S1.gif "Jacob's Ladder [Explicit] - Jc (MP3-Download)"){kind=icon}
