JACOB’S LADDER: An Insufferable Remake That Loses The Plot

The remake of Adrian Lyne’s film of the same name released in 1990 and starring Tim Robbins is the latest victim to the recent trend of unearthing any and all cult films and remaking them to no avail, with little publicity and even less acclaim. 

Jacob’s Ladder – directed by David M. Rosenthal – stars Michael Ealy as Jacob Singer. An army veteran medic who in the line of duty failed to save his brother Isaac ‘Ike’ Singer (Jesse Williams). Jacob now back in society as a pharmacist begins to suffer from severe headaches and nightmares that are slowly become a reality. Issues that implode when Jacob is told that his brother Issac might still be alive. 

Unnecessary Remake

The biggest question asked even before a viewing of Jacob’s Ladder is, did it need to be remade? A problem in Hollywood that seemingly needs to be asked now for about thirty if not forty per cent of their output. Granted, a few sneak through the cracks and end up surprising. A sentiment we can all hope that might be the case but more so than not, these unnecessary features gravely disappoints. Jacob’s Ladder falls in the latter camp. 

Should it really be a surprise that a film made on a whim, had a trailer release merely a week before its release, that turned out to be a direct-to-video bomb, come as a shock that it isn’t at all good? Yes and no. For all the reasons above the answer is, of course, a unanimous yes. The casting of Michael Ealy as the titular character of Jacob fails to comprehend the need for an emotionally expressive and dramatically inclined actor to suffice in the role. 

Ealy is no Tim Robbins, his range is lacking and in certain sequences sleeps through the material with an over-dependency and on the nose approach of physical ticks. A factor the Ealy thinks is his get out of jail free card to showcase emotion but instead results in a constant flux of excessiveness that takes the audience away from the material, which in hindsight might be a blessing. 

Wasted Screentime and Skewed Depth

The supporting cast does not do the film any favours either. Jesse Williams turns up in a few scenes. A character that on paper is meant to not only be a crucial plot device but a role with emotional intensity is wasted with the actor struggling to emote an inch of range. Every time the film wants to change gear and ramp up either the tension or thematic agitation, the character of Williams is utilised, and the results are flat flavourless scenes of boredom. 

The crux of the film is the dynamic between the two brothers, but every time it is explored, it results in wasted screentime and skewed depth due to the material being barren and dull. Even when the film plays with the narrative in a vague sense, it still can not inject any freedom or intrigue losing all impact because there is not any sense of engagement with the audience. If the essential elements can not be crafted to a sufficient degree, the film can never get its foot off the ground.

Flat Visuals

Unfortunately, the visual elements are even more so a disaster than the written material provided. The film throughout has a horrible silver colour palette that contextually provides little subconscious meaning. Instead, it is exercised as this stylistic choice that fails to evoke any sense of horror or intensity.

The cinematography is astonishingly bland and uninteresting. The image is crying out for flair or bravado, but nothing is injected to heighten the material or tension on screen. It is an echo chamber of visual boredom. The edit does not provide any positives either. Rudimentary and conventional to the point of oblivion. The viewer has to continually remind themselves what material they are meant to viewing due to the films inexcusable scarcity of exploring simple genre convention.

Jacob’s Ladder: Conclusion

There is no love or admiration of this remake in the writing or material provided. Writers Jeff Buhler and Sarah Thorpe showcase no real interest in evolving the content nor adapting anything to the present day, even if it is set within it. The disappointing factor is that the material is actually timeless. The same social issues and political substance that was in the original 1990 film can still be found to be in our current social climate. The film avoids exploring this substantially relevant thread at all costs, ultimately skirting around the issue to craft a simplistic but overly convoluted horror with no thrills and spills.

Do all remakes lead to disappointment?  Will you be scouting the planet for a physical copy of Jacob’s Ladder? Please let us know in the comments below!

Jacob’s Ladder was released on demand August 23rd, 2019