... Would it be so well regarded if it wasn't so bizarre ?
I first saw JACOB'S LADDER in the mid 1990s . It's a film very similar to THE VILLAGE in that it split the critics right down the middle as to its ending . Upon seeing it for the first time I thought it was rather weird and while not exactly cheating didn't seem all that different to " He woke up and it was all a dream " type ending
I've seen the movie a couple of times since which is something of a back handed compliment , after all if you know what the ending is JACOB'S LADDER still has some worth . Can you say the same about THE VILLAGE ?
I can totally understand why the screenplay had a problem being produced . Imagine you're head of a studio and this script arrives on your desk . How are you going to market it ? It starts off as a war movie , then becomes a supernatural thriller , then conspiracy theory thriller then comes the shock ending revelation which in those days was almost unheard of . The producer and director have probably done the best job possible in making it appeal to a thinking audience but the majority of people aren't a thinking audience and you can just imagine on its original cinema release many female viewers watching the first five minutes thinking there's no way they're sitting through a war movie and walking out , with many of the opposite sex following them after twenty minutes thinking they're going to be watching a domestic drama while after forty minutes the remaining audience are thinking to themselves where the hell this movie is heading
I do confess to enjoying JACOB'S LADDER but only in some parts . The party scene is a classic sequence but there's a bit too many slow bits like Jacob's and Jezebel's domestic home life . I guess since Tim Robbins is a fairly well known actor ( And he plays nice guys like Jacob Singer very well ) these days and shock twist endings are in vogue again , not to mention conspiracy theories JACOB'S LADDER will probably be better regarded in 2004 than what it was in 1990 . It's good but it's not flawless
Seven out of Ten
I first saw JACOB'S LADDER in the mid 1990s . It's a film very similar to THE VILLAGE in that it split the critics right down the middle as to its ending . Upon seeing it for the first time I thought it was rather weird and while not exactly cheating didn't seem all that different to " He woke up and it was all a dream " type ending
I've seen the movie a couple of times since which is something of a back handed compliment , after all if you know what the ending is JACOB'S LADDER still has some worth . Can you say the same about THE VILLAGE ?
I can totally understand why the screenplay had a problem being produced . Imagine you're head of a studio and this script arrives on your desk . How are you going to market it ? It starts off as a war movie , then becomes a supernatural thriller , then conspiracy theory thriller then comes the shock ending revelation which in those days was almost unheard of . The producer and director have probably done the best job possible in making it appeal to a thinking audience but the majority of people aren't a thinking audience and you can just imagine on its original cinema release many female viewers watching the first five minutes thinking there's no way they're sitting through a war movie and walking out , with many of the opposite sex following them after twenty minutes thinking they're going to be watching a domestic drama while after forty minutes the remaining audience are thinking to themselves where the hell this movie is heading
I do confess to enjoying JACOB'S LADDER but only in some parts . The party scene is a classic sequence but there's a bit too many slow bits like Jacob's and Jezebel's domestic home life . I guess since Tim Robbins is a fairly well known actor ( And he plays nice guys like Jacob Singer very well ) these days and shock twist endings are in vogue again , not to mention conspiracy theories JACOB'S LADDER will probably be better regarded in 2004 than what it was in 1990 . It's good but it's not flawless
Seven out of Ten