Jacob's Ladder

Let's get this out of the way first; the original Jacob's Ladder is a great and unique film that by no means needs an updated version. If you want to watch a great version of it, just go watch the original.

Story: While it is a remake, it is not a shot for shot reiteration. Several key story elements have been changed up, but many of the scenes reappear in a different context. The problem with this is that some of them feel shoved in to pay fan service to the original. The changes to the story and characters are at times major, and it feels like they are trying to tell a similar story just with vastly different parameters and it doesn't quite fit right.

Acting: The three main actors do a very serviceable job in their respected roles, however Michael Ealy really wasn't able to fully capture the same insane paranoia that Tim Robbins brought.

Production: The cinematography, while not bad, was lacking creativity and polish. The sound design was solid throughout. The effects on the other hand were cheesy and repetitious. They drastically overused the sped up head and camera shaking effect, while the cgi would have looked like it was 10 years old, 10 years ago. Seriously, half-assed practical effects would have looked much better than this shoddy cgi.

Entertainment: Well, there was little. It honestly felt like one of the most generic and predictable films that I have seen in a long time. I understand that it's difficult to make a remake unique, but this iteration has no heart, enjoyment, or identity to it at all and it just falls flat.

Overall: It's not the worst movie that you could watch, but there's really no reason to watch it. It's bland, mediocre, and the only thing scary about it are the bad special effects. Like I said before, if you want to watch a great version of it, just go watch the original. A generous 4/10

It's going to be hard to top the horror classic and I'm not surprised. Was hoping to be at least mediocre the way many copy-paste-randomize movies are being coughed up these days but went far below expectations. The very things that made the original so scary, dream-like and shocking is simply not there.

I wasn't expecting much from this, but I was intrigued from the start. You don't have to be a genius to work out the twist, but it was good. I thought all of the actors did a great job with a sometimes challenging genre. I care for people who've done terrible things when they've been in psychosis, and then come to and they're broken people after they realise what they've done, so this gave me insight into ptsd, trauma and mental health. I really liked the special effects, particularly the wings scene, it was beautiful. Update.. 3 days later. So, I watched the original. And Jesus Christ this film pales in comparison. I was obviously unprepared and it has literally taken me two days to watch it, as I couldn't physically get passed the dance scene. Those who haven't seen the original, and watch this first like I did, will wonder if the criticism of this version is warranted. But I implore you to watch the original. It's vicious, disturbing, visceral, beautiful and will stay with you for days, if not months. I get it now, purists. Jesus do I get it. It's frustrating that the most potent and astonishing line in the original (said by Louis, the chiroprator) that Jacob uses to let go of his attachments, just gets dropped in, at one of the weirdest points in the film in this version, making it appear tone deaf and badly photoshopped somehow. This version now appears PG in comparison, and spoon fed. In the original we are buckled in and thrown around the rusty, blood splattered rollercoaster in the dark, with occasional strobe lights, feeling as if we are right next to Jacob, wondering if he's dead or insane. There are no clear answers and no cheap thrills here, and we have to develop our own insights. With this version, it's wrapped very neatly, to the point that half way through i comprehended the twist, like a murder she wrote. It should have been released under a different name, yet drawing on some aspects of the original. I would imagine it's score would have got up to 6. For those of you reviewing this and making vile rascist comments about the actors ethnicities? GTFOA...unbelievable! That has zero bearing on why this film hasn't impressed me..at all.

A pale, hollow mockery of the original and a criminal waste of actors' talent. The original was designed to be a modern day interpretation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead with influences from a 19th century short story (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge), the artwork and photography of Francis Bacon & Joel Peter Witkin, along with philosophical and biblical references and imagery. The remake, on the other hand, is a dumpster fire of a bad PSA masquerading as a movie. The only credit I can give is to the main cast members who do their utmost to at least lift the film experience out of the realms of the unwatchable with some solid performances.

Updated 2022: I recently made an attempt to rewatch this film, on the off chance that perhaps my love of the original was clouding my judgement, and I have to be completely honest and say not only does my original rating and review still stand, but if anything I am even more disappointed in what this remake delivered. I will also reiterate that I do still think this film wasted the talents of the actors involved, and that the performances given were the only thing about this film that just managed to raise it from the quagmire of completely unwatchable (the cast here is definitely not the issue). Having also recently begun to dive further into a self study of topics such as film theory and film appreciation there is one thing I have realised, and that is I do tend to reserve my harshest criticism for those movies I believe had the potential to be far better than the half baked garbage they ultimately delivered to audiences; Jacob's Ladder (2019) falls squarely into that category of films for me. I don't believe there were too many fans of the original film, including myself who expected a scene for scene, beat for beat, carbon copy reshoot of the 90s version, but the fact that not only did the filmmakers here appear to have completely missed the very core element of the original film (one's ultimate acceptance of death, and the journey of 'letting go' that the dying brain/soul must go through in order to reach that state of acceptance), but that in doing so they also missed a myriad of emotionally powerful and socially relevant stories they could've told instead is deeply disappointing to me.

Having watched the original movie of Jacobs Ladder I really didn't expect much from or even expected this movie was needed. How right I was. From the start your greeted with just confusing dialogue after confusing scenes. I just could not get into such a poor made movie that had no excitement like the original that was very well written and directed. I felt we the audience where being taken for idiots. Sometimes I would say give it a chance. But for this it wants flushing down the toilet. It gets 2 Stars only because it looks decent quality wise just not executed at all in a good manner. Big thumbs down