Tim RobbinsJacob's Ladder [DVD]

This review is primarily about the Blu-ray product rather than the movie itself, which is a classic masterpiece.Overall, the quality of the transfer onto Blu-ray is good. Apparently, it is supposed to be sharper than the 2010 Blu-ray which I haven't seen, so I couldn't say. Regardless, it is still a very soft transfer, while still being somewhat grainy, muddy, and not very colorful. I'm too young to have seen it in theaters, but from what I've heard it's not far from what the original 35mm actually looked like.In any case, it's clear that the overall look is most likely rather intentional and not due to lack of quality or care, though the brightness levels are still a little too dark for my taste, much darker than any other Blu-ray I've owned, and I ended up having to turn up the gamma on my TV in order to make out the darker shadow details. I would be curious to see if they ever end up doing a 4K remaster where this is addressed, along with maybe a slight color boost and sharper presentation yet.As for the packaging and disc authoring, I'm not a huge fan of the cover art with the white background, I would have preferred they used the original 1990 poster with the black background or something like that. It seems like a poor attempt at giving it more updated and modern packaging, but reeks of "graphic design is my passion" energy. Same goes for the disc label art, which isn't great, it looks both updated and outdated at the same time, like something out of the 2000's for a movie that came out in 1990. The Blu-ray menus also share somewhat ugly graphic design.All that aside, the bonus features are nice, it includes almost everything from the 1998 DVD version of this film, which would be deleted scenes and a couple of theatrical trailers, along with director's commentary and a roughly 20 min featurette regarding the making of the film. The theatrical trailers interestingly seem to be more recent 2K rescans of actual 35mm trailers that would have been played in theaters, with very different color grading from the main film. Not sure if this is maybe closer to what the movie looked like in theaters.However, the same cannot be said for the deleted scenes unfortunately. They appear to be what was most likely the same quality you got from the DVD in 1998, which actually have more of a VHS/worse-than-DVD quality to them. I would really like to see the original extended version of the movie with those scenes thrown back in and remastered.It also comes with an UV digital code which still works as of 2023 by going to the website listed on the card despite UV shutting down in 2019. It now redeems in your Vudu library instead. I would have preferred to have been given a choice on which platform to redeem it on, but Vudu is the only option offered, and this particular title doesn't seem to be compatible with Movies Anywhere linkage from Vudu either.All in all, a great package with some minor nitpicks about the cheap looking packaging and graphic art, and maybe 7.5/10 video quality by today's standards, though it is most likely the best the film has ever looked to date. Definitely worth owning over just streaming it, as streaming just doesn't deliver the same bitrate as physical media, but the digital code included is still a nice bonus for convenience's sake.

Well, I saw it so long ago- I just remembered that I really liked it.Fast Forward 30 years= Still really liked it. A few notes on this.Not sure why they would've made a remake? Also, had Aronofsky not done Mother!, this would've been a great project to do. This movie, considering its age wears well. It's still a pretty cool movie and creepy. I had read a couple people talking smack that it was stupid because it's all a dream and he is dead at the end. If that's what you think= you're too stupid to watch this movie. He Wasn't dead. He was in the transition period between being alive and being dead. He couldn't enter death un til he learned to let go of the things that kept him from passing. So, you can say those parts of the movie didn't happen, but they did- in his head. What is the difference between the real world and the one you perceive, if how you perceive it is different from reality. Does it invalidate what you experience? And who is to say what is real? You? Why is your perception so much sounder than another persons? I always have said that reality is 9/10's perception. It only matters that YOU perceive it the way you do, not that others don't. It's a bit of a metaphysical quandary- but I have schizophrenia and I have things I know are true- that others would not perceive. Psychic abilities, so to speak. Now, does someone who doesn't not experience reality? It's best if you kind of look at it like You experience YOUR singular reality- and it just so happens to overlap with everyone else's- but not in the exact same way. Anywho, sorry for the rant, but this movie was cool and F the naysayers.

Jacob's Ladder open's with New York postal worker Jacob Singer waking on a subway train having just experienced a nightmare flashback to his time in Vietnam. Upset and confused he tries to ask his fellow passengers if he has missed his stop but as he passes them he sees flashes of tails and horns in the uncommunicative people whom he approaches for help. Exiting the train he finds the stairs to the subway locked and on crossing the tracks he narrowly misses being hit by a train coming in the other direction and whilst lying on the track he witnesses yet more disturbing images as the train passes by. Unsure whether these images are real or as a result of some form of post traumatic stress disorder from his time in `Nam, he struggles to keep his grip on sanity as his life becomes a nightmare, with his days punctuated by visions of demons, his first wife and his dead son. His life begins to unravel and the line between reality and delusion becomes ever more fragile.This is, in my opinion, by far and away Adrian Lyne's best movie, which may surprise some people given the fact his CV includes big box office hits such as 9 ½ Weeks, Indecent Proposal and Fatal Attraction. His direction is subtle, considered, well-paced and as near as you'll get to perfect. The cinematography is also excellent and the use of special effects are relatively understated but effective, which is something that can rarely be said since the advent of CGI. As for Bruce Joel Rubin's screenplay no praise is too high. It is intelligent, intricate and complex and it keeps you guessing until the end. In fact there is so much in this movie that second time around you'll find yourself picking up clues that you missed first time around and appreciate the cleverness and different levels of the story even more. Tim Robbins is excellent as Jacob, whom he succeeds in making a very sympathetic and vulnerable character, whose life literally becomes a nightmare. The supporting cast is excellent too with Elizabeth Pena (La Bamba, Rush Hour etc) and Danny Aiello (Leon, Do The Right Thing) in particular putting in notable performances. Jacob's Ladder also features supporting performances from Matt Craven (The Life of David Gale), Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) and Eriq La Salle (ER).I first saw Jacob's Ladder at the cinema when it first opened back in 1990. I had read an article about it in a magazine, which was complete with disturbing still photographs from the movie. The article was intriguing in that it said that the screenplay, written by Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost) had been doing the rounds in Hollywood for several years but that although everybody agreed it was an excellent screenplay it had been considered unfilmable until Director Adrian Lyne got hold of it. On the day before seeing `Jacobs Ladder', for the first time, a review in the now defunct British newspaper `Today' described it as a five star classic and I still remember watching it in the cinema on its opening night, transfixed by the story and disturbed by the images, whilst jumping out of my seat a few times. I have loved this movie ever since and have loaned out my old VHS copy many times since then but what still surprises me is that so few people seem to know this movie or have seen this movie, which to me seems like a crime.Perhaps Jacobs Ladder's lack of box office success can be put down to it often being classified as a horror movie, which is to do it an enormous disservice. Sure there are elements of Jacob's Ladder that can be compared to the horror genre but it is so much more than that. Complex, downbeat but also spiritually uplifting it was perhaps too intelligent and too disturbing to achieve a mass appeal. However, it still amazes me and saddens me that real dross such as Vanilla Sky has many people waxing lyrical when something as good, sorry excellent as this slips by relatively unnoticed. Jacob's Ladder I would suggest is a superior forerunner to movies such as Vanilla Sky and even The Sixth Sense and I highly recommend it!

This is one of my all time fave horror films. Whilst not a slasher its horror is served through the eyes of the title character as he journeys through the film with strange visions and distortions on his reality and also through the PTSD he suffers as a result of vietnam which keeps flashing the audience back to certain times and places. It is a journey for the audience too and whilst the film has been labelled by some as nonsensical (friends of mine) and hard to follow because it is a strange trip to take. I wont spoil it but there are characters in the film that do give us an answer as to what the film means. Jacobs doctor also lets us in on what may or may not be happening as he plays the much needed light in all this darkness. The imagery is very disturbing and shocked me to the point of sleeplessness when I first saw this and it plays on you not wanting to see. I always say that the "shakey demon" fx which means monsters and people moving in an impossible fast way was first used here before House on haunted hill. Very scary. Thrilling and emotional joyride.

Jacob's Ladder is a hallucinogenic psychological thriller that made myself hallucinate. Another film that has garnered cult status over the years, more so for its unique nightmarish flashback narrative structure. I honestly had to sit in silence for a good ten minutes and attempt to string some words together to surmise this film. Simply put: "A confusing mystery of confusing confusion". *sigh*...I'm going to need my notebook next time. Jacob is wounded during the Vietnam war, years later he starts to see hallucinations and experience depressing flashbacks which leads him to investigate the sudden mental visions. I mean...how do I even collate adjectives and superlatives to create a review for this? It's so bizarrely executed that it left me questioning if this was a hidden masterpiece or just difficult for the sake of melting the brains of the audience. Currently, I sit in the middle. It's an intriguing perspective into a heightened mind during a visceral heart-pumping experience such as the Vietnam War, where secret experiments with hallucinogens were utilised as a means to increase aggression. That aside, the primary appeal to this thriller is the intricate narrative structure. Is it real? Fabricated? Nostalgic memories or malicious nightmares? The careful construct of the plot will leave you questioning every scene up until its conclusion (which still left me scratching my head occasionally). It's rapid pacing, consistently blending ghostly fantasies with reality, which certainly needs to be adjusted to. The constant transitions between flashbacks is jarring, particularly for the first half, but stick with it and all will be answered. Robbins gives yet another exceptional performance as a man undergoing psychological delusions. My main negative is the fact it was so...how to put it..."in your face", that actually I cannot remember the majority of scenes. It's like a jigsaw puzzle, you don't remember slotting each piece in but you do acknowledge the final product. Jacob's Ladder is just that, an absurdly hallucinogenic jigsaw puzzle that definitely needs to be revisited again.

I hadn't seen this film for a long time (I had a VHS copy many years ago) and thought I'd upgrade to the Blu-ray version. I was a bit worried due to some of the negative reviews about the picture quality etc. but I took the plunge anyway. I'm so glad I did, obviously, the film itself is fantastic - thought provoking, dark and moody. It still stands up today as a bit of a classic for me.In terms of picture and sound quality for Blu-ray, it's not too bad (although I've seen way better) and a definite improvement on any VHS copy I may have previously owned. For the price, which was part of a 2 for £10 offer, I'm happy. There are no special features which is a bit disappointing but the film is great.

I first saw this movie back in the '90s and I could not believe how good it was. My adult son is a serious movie buff and I bought it for him. We watched it together and it is now a family cult favourite.Delivery was on time and flawless.

Con: no subtitles of any kindPro: very good movieI really enjoy the movie. I am not a native english speaker so sometimes I can miss some words if there is a person with a accent in the movie and that can be a bit irritating, so I miss there was english subtitles. But overall I am happy i saw this movie, it was amazing.