GOING FOR BROKE: JACOB'S LADDER, JOE VS. THE VOLCANO
One regular charge against movies today is that they continually play it safe. Nothing that might offend, and nothing that might confuse, because otherwise somebody may be turned off, and heaven forbid that happen. But every once in a while, there are still films that swing for the fences and go for broke (films of Terry Gilliam and David Lynch immediately come to mind). They aren't always perfect films, and sometimes, their reach exceeds their grasp. Still, you can't entirely dismiss them from your mind, and that's what's great about them. Two such films in 1990 were Adrian Lyne's JACOB'S LADDER and John Patrick Shanley's JOE VS. THE VOLCANO. Neither of them set the box office on fire - as a matter of fact, both of them disappeared early - both received wildly mixed reviews (though JACOB'S LADDER was slanted slightly towards the favorable), and neither are masterpieces. Yet both of them are admirable attempts to go out there.
On the surface, JACOB'S LADDER seemed to have a pedigree worthy of becoming a box office hit. In 1985, the American Film Institute (AFI) had named it, in their monthly magazine, one of the 10 best unproduced screenplays. Bruce Joel Rubin wrote it, and his previous film, of course, was GHOST, the most popular film of 1990. And it was directed by Adrian Lyne, coming off the huge hit FATAL ATTRACTION. But despite all that, JACOB'S LADDER came and went, and we know what happened to GHOST. While I liked GHOST, this is, despite the problems, a better film.
Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins), the title character, is a Vietnam vet who works at the post office, even though he has a PhD. He lives with Jezzie (Elizabeth Pena), who's also a postal clerk. He was previously married to Sarah (Patricia Kalember), but the marriage disintergrated with the death of their son (Macauley Caulkin). As consistent with many Vietnam vets portrayed on screen, Jacob suffers from headaches and is haunted by memories of the war. But in this case, there's a lot more to it than that. He has weird and disturbing dreams of demons, or something else, pursuing him. One minute, he's lying sick in a tub, the next minute, he's lying in bed happily with Sarah, just like old times (or is it old times), and then he's back in the tub again. And he remembers being wounded in battle, but can't remember the details. His lawyer, Geary (Jason Alexander), merely thinks Jacob's deluded. His chiropractor Louis (Danny Aiello) merely thinks Jacob's afraid of dying, and these "demons" are a manifestation of that. Michael (Matt Craven), a former chemist for the army, thinks Jacob and his platoon (they include Ving Rhames and Eriq LaSalle) were spiked with mind-altering drugs, which may be causing Jacob to hallucinate.
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