List Price: $9.98You Pay Only: $4.99 You Save: $4.99 (50%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Lions Gate
EAN: 9780784011164
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0784011168
Label: Lions Gate
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publisher: Lions Gate
Region Code: 1
Release Date: July 14, 1998
Running Time: 115 minutes
Sales Rank: 4716
Studio: Lions Gate
Theatrical Release Date: November 02, 1990
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Jacob a vietnam veteran cant help but wonder if hes already dead and if his dark existence is merely a hallucination. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/05/2006 Starring: Tim Robbins Mccauley Caulkin Run time: 116 minutes Rating: R Director: Adrian Lyne
Amazon.com:
Vietnam veteran Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) thinks he is going insane. Or worse. When his nightmares begin spilling into his waking hours, Jacob believes he is experiencing the aftereffects of a powerful drug tested on him during Vietnam. Or perhaps his posttraumatic stress disorder is worse than most. Whatever is happening to him, it is not good. Director Adrian Lyne sparks our interest and maintains high production values, but this confusing film chokes on its 'surprise' ending. It owes much to Ambrose Bierce's haunting and more straightforward story, 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek.' Written by Bruce Joel Rubin, who also explored the 'other side' in Ghost and My Life, it ultimately feels like an exercise in self-indulgence. A spirited performance by Elizabeth Peña outshines Robbins, who is surprisingly lethargic. --Rochelle O'Gorman
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Was It A Flashback Or A Flashforward
"With fellow critics, I got involved in a conversation about the underlying reality of the film. Was it all a flashback - or a flash forward? What was real, and what was only in the hero's mind? Are even the apparently "real" sequences the product of his imagination?" Roger Ebert
My best friend urged me to view 'Jacob's Ladder' after we had discussed philosophies of life and death. I remembered reading about Jacob's Ladder from the Bible 'Jacob's vision in which he saw a stairway from earth to Heaven with angels descending and ascending.' Little did I realize that this film was the reality.
This film is not like anything I have ever seen. It is a viscerally frightening film that kept me on the edge of my seat. It opens with a scene in the Mekong Delta. Jacob Singer, as played by Tim Robbins and his squadron of soldiers are seen joking about human existence. Minutes later, all hell breaks loose, explosions, convulsions, and jerky hand-held camera movements. And, then we move to the subway where Jacob is reading Camus and frightening, exotic and dangerous events occur. Jacob works for the post office and this must be the anchor of his daily existence. Taking stock of Jacob's existence it seems. I sat right on the edge of my seat while viewing this film and feel this is an analogy for the film- right on the edge, between madness and sanity. Elizabeth Pena plays Jacob's girlfriend and is she the piece that holds sanity together? The film is really about coming to peace with ... Read More
Rating: - Angels and Demons
Very impressive movie by Adrian Lyne, who apparently was involved on a very personal level, as unfortunately his other work isn't exactly world shattering, but this one makes up for it all. Although it wasn't exactly a maverick move in 1990 to make a Vietnam film, this is certainly one of the most interesting ones on the subject. This is maybe a bold statement in view of the company this movie is in concerning this subject matter, but I do think it not to be an exaggeration.
What makes this movie so special? It sheds light on America's involvement in the war from an angle that is not often seen: the use of its own soldiers for experiments in chemical warfare on the one hand (macro story) and the thoughts, feelings, memories, dreams of the future of a veteran (micro story) on the other hand, which is a dramatically very effective combination, that really pulls the viewer in, especially if the main protagonist is performed so magnificently as is being done here by a very young Tim Robbins.
What makes the movie even more special is the structure, that gives shape to the story, causing the viewer in, what we would now call "Donnie Darko", fashion to be hurled through space, time and seemingly parallel realities, dipped in a horror genre type nightmarish atmosphere, which is pretty disturbing. As in Donnie Darko the viewer is repeatedly misdirected and so I've seen on many occasions that various viewers were equally moved as well as confused while looking at the credits rolling by, all the while ... Read More
Rating: - First Rate Thriller
From start to finish, JACOB'S LADDER is a brilliant thriller. I love movies with reference to the Vietnam War. This one has it. When the movie starts, you're just certain the movie is going one way and ends up going another. This is one of first movies in the tradition of SIXTH SENSE or WHAT LIES BENEATH. Although quite different movies, still psychological thrillers nonetheless. Great flick especially for the price. Very much deservant of a multi-disc special edition maybe when it hits the big 2-0. One thing I noticed was how OLIVER STONISH it was. I kept thinking it was Stone, but it 's not. Regardless, it's directed perfectly and by the end of it you are like, oh, that explains that. (or something to that degree)
Please see this underrated film. I'm so angry I had not seen it until now.
Rating: - ...did anyone else notice the missing scenes?!?
This is without a doubt one of my favorite movies of all time. I hadn't seen it in YEARS so I was really excited to watch it last weekend. It was great, of course, but it seemed a little different to me. I couldn't put my finger on it because I hadn't seen it in so long. I always remembered the ending being so powerful, and it felt a little weak to me. After it was finished I watched the documentary on the special features menu about the making of Jacob's Ladder. It was awesome. The director and writer were discussing the movie, scene by scene and it was very insightful. But then....they started to discuss a scene and showed a clip, and this clip was really grainy, like a VHS would be. And this scene was NOT in the version I just watched. I was a little confused but kept watching. Then, it happened again. They discussed a scene, showed the clip, the clip was grainy and also was not in the version of the movie that I just watched. At this point, I'm pissed. These aren't just 2 pointless scenes either, because both the director and writer said they were 2 of the most important scenes in the movie, if not THE most important. So I go back to the special features menu and click on Additional Scenes. Lo and behold, these 2 MAJOR scenes in this movie have been deleted from the actual film and stuck in additional scenes. And they are still grainy, like they were never transferred over to dvd quality. WHAT IS GOING ON!?!?! This isn't the first time I have encountered this with dvds. How can a ... Read More
Rating: - No Spoiler Here
Oddly enough, what I want to say is that "Jacob's Ladder" is one of the only movies about Viet Nam that I can watch. I was in high school during the Viet Nam war, and had my share of friends and friends' parents go there and die, or come back changed. However, there is so much more to "Jacob's Ladder" than Viet Nam. It is an intense psychological drama, a descent into madness, a realization of truth, and an ascent into clarity. I am not going to write a SPOILER - you can read dozens of reviews on this database that will spoil it for you. What I do not understand are the comments that it is confusing. I do not find it confusing in the least. The answers are all there. I first saw it in 1990, and I understood it then. I just saw it, again, in 2008, and all the answers are still there. Maybe you have to pay attention; you know, press pause when you go out to the kitchen for a tasty beverage. "Jacob's Ladder" is on my Top Ten All Time Best Films List.
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