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Let's play those mind games together
by CarlosC (movies profile)
Mar 16, 2008
13
of
15 people found this review helpful
'What if this world was another planet's Hell?' So goes one pessimistic, philosophical quandary. JACOB'S LADDER, indirectly, addresses that question. In it, a Vietnam veteran (Tim Robbins) faces Hell-on-earth after apparently being subjected to sinister government drug experiments during the war. The film-makers' original intent was to have the hero wander through the after-life, searching for answers, à la Robin Williams in WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (1998). Instead, in a flash on brilliance, they opted to make his prison -- and, torture chamber -- the everyday world of post-Vietnam America.
Jacob Singer (Robbins) begins to suffer from hallucinations and, most disturbingly, from the paranoid delusion that his existence is unreal or, at best, inconsequential, after returning to civilian life. After the war, Jacob marries and has children. The youngest one (McCaulay Caulkin, in a pre-HOME ALONE, uncredited appearance) dies, leaving Jacob forever grief-ridden and heart-broken. When he tries to start his life over with a co-worker (Elizabeth Peña, in her finest hour), Jacob's perception of the world goes out-of-joint. Odd incidents add up. A subway station that Jacob uses regularly is one day, inexplicably, closed. A subway train nearly runs him over. When it passes, it is filled with ghouls. Things get worse. At a party, and everywhere, Jacob sees demons; faceless specters, creatures with vibrating heads, that taunt and torture him and cause him to doubt his own sanity. LADDER is the scariest drug-induced-madness horror-flick.
Critics and audiences have complained about the disjointed, disorganized presentation of LADDER. Indeed, at various points in the movie, its 'real-time' changes from the time when Jacob is involved with Jezebel (Peña); to a few years before, during his marriage; to the late sixties, during the war. In fact, at certain moments, events occur that challenge the feasibility of each of the other realities, to the extent that many viewers debate which reality really governs the plot. In other words, viewers who like certainty and concreteness in movies will hate this film. But, those willing to overlook the fastidious question of what really happens may find themselves suddenly, and inextricably, in the mind of the hero. LADDER does that very well.
Although the movie is flawed in its attempts to blend messages about life and death, and good and evil -- it was written by the writer of GHOST (1990) and DEEP IMPACT (1998) -- it is compelling because its hero is compelling. I mean, poor Jacob! He is so sympathetic after our panoramic tour through his nightmares that our pity really lingers. And so, even though the movie's message is unfocused, and its plot is uneven (with a weak and, to some, enfuriating, ending), the disturbing, dreary mood evoked by this movie also lingers -- and, by association, so do its troublesome questions.
(Carlos Colorado) |
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