Jacob's Ladder - Will's Review

Vietnam flashbacks! Heroic chiropractors! Trains! Explosions! McCauley Culkin! Demons!

Following the experiences of Vietnam Vet, Jacob Singer, Jacob's Ladder is a somewhat non-linear tale, charting Jacobs apparent PTSD as we skip between his present life as a postal worker haunted by visions of demons, his (presumably pre-war) time with his ex-wife, and his last day in action in 'nam.

I didn't realise going in, but it soon became obvious that this movie was a huge influence to the Silent Hill games, something an internet search confirmed, with many of the same locations, visual tricks, and imagery. If it had only had fog, you'd swear they were set in the same universe.

I don't want to say too much more, as it's easy to give things away, but I will say that the film pulls off a lot of tropes that usually put me right off a movie; here though, they are so well justified by context, and so well made, that they actually work. The kind of non linear storytelling which often marks a movie as under-written, lazy, or pretentious, here paints a compelling picture of a decent into madness. If you don't need to leave a movie with everything tied up in a neat little bow, then I strongly recommend that you see this movie before reading any further.

Still here? Don't say you weren't warned.

The ending in particular, if less-well handled, could have invalidated the entire movie; instead it becomes the point of the movie, making sense of everything that's gone before (at least in part due to the chiropractor's philosophising). Likewise the backwards-and-forwards nature of the story, and the uncertainty as to which bits are dreams, could easily have become annoying if not so well written and directed.

I'll probably revisit this one at some point, as countless little things are making sense as I look back at them (such as why we never see Jacob's other 2 children) and I'm sure there will be more of these little touches to find.

Not a wholehearted thumbs up, as a lot of people will tire of this movie quickly, or find it confusing; but as mentioned before the jump, for the right type of person I thoroughly recommend this film.