Tim Robbins plays a guy with a ladder. Actually, he's Jacob, a postman who used to be in 'Nam, has an ex-wife, a dead son, and likes to showers with Elizabeth Pena. That pretty much sums it up. Oh wait, he is also the sole possessor of one amazing haircut.
The narrative falls back and forth through several streams of reality. There's what seem to be Vietnam flashbacks, flashbacks with his wife and kids, and his present life with Pena. Coming home from work one night, Jacob witnesses a subway train full of faceless beings. This, combined with his wartime memories, has left the letter sorter, to use a clinical term: fucked up.
An old army buddy shows up and starts talking about these demons and that he's going to hell. This inspires an "Our Boys" reunion. The whole gang's there. Ving Rhames. Eriq La Salle. A couple of nameless white guys. Trouble is, I could have sworn most of them died in the opening scene of the movie. They start talking about government conspiracies. They start talking about demons. Jason Alexander shows up. It's a real mess.
The film's most impressive aspect are its special effects. According to the world's second most reliable information source, IMDB Trivia, all of the special effects were filmed live with no post-production. The world's most reliable information source, Wikipedia, backs this up with a description of a fast motion body horror technique. The technique results in me peeing a little out of fear. If more filmmakers had utilized this anti-CGI style, a lot less 90s films would be considered so dated today. They can't all be Jurassic Park, gentlemen.
Lyne also handles the less over-the-top tensional scenes in an equally effective manner. Tim Golden wrote in his Variety article, "Up 'Jacob's Ladder' and into the Hell of a Veteran's Psyche" about the director's ability to stay true to his own style while coming up with news ways to keep the auidence wriggling in their chairs.
Five things I learned from Jacob's Ladder:
1. Lyne takes a little dramatic license concerning the dangers of a 106 fever.
2. Macaulay Culkin did make a pre-Home Alone film besides Uncle Buck.
3. The wonky-eyed guy is named Pruitt Taylor Vince and his wonkiness is caused by a condition called nystagmus.
4. It isn't possible to write about this movie without mentioning Elizabeth Pena dancefloor-fucking a giant devil creature complete with wings and tail to Abba's 'Voulez vous.'
5. Tropic Thunder doesn't really capture the horrors of Vietnam War the way I thought it did.
4 comments:
I'm surprised more people don't talk about this film as well. And I'm surprised you haven't seen it before. A really great, trippy war-drama, with an unforgettable ending. It's been a few years since I've seen it, but I watched it a few times back in the day. Definitely recommended to anyone who hasn't seen it.
-Ross
What I Watched Last Night
Pruitt Taylor Vince was in one very creepy episode of The X-Files, as Whitney may have told you.
Also, Amanda has nystagmus.
Whitney said that he kidnaps Sculley and tries to give her a lobotomy to get rid of her 'demons.'
I remember him as the wonky-eyed fellow in Identity. John Cusack! YAY!
This is one of the best recent psychological horrors made, if not one of the best. The visions are just terrifying and bizarre, and they still look real, unlike 90s CG crapfests.
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