Remakes of beloved classic films are inevitable. So long as the entertainment industry remains static in their story crisis terrified to take on any property without name recognition or not based on any kind of pre-existing property, we as an audience will see a massive title wave of remakes, reboots, and reimaginings along with sequels, prequels, and spin-offs for good measure (or lack thereof). Most of the time, remakes fail to understand or embrace what made the original film so enduring and perfect and wind up as pale imitations that are only banking on the value of the recognizable name to ensure ticket sales. Even so, every so often, there is a remake of a classic movie that manages to build upon its predecessor's accomplishments and actually be better in its own way. It is rare, but it does happen on occasion. Today's movie, the 2019 remake of Jacob's Ladder, is somewhere in between. It's not bad enough to be written off as a lazy carbon copy of the original, but it's also not good enough to be considered better. It's a movie that if it were missing a few scenes and had a different title, would actually be a decent thriller in its own right. Sadly, because it bears the title and a few similar moments from the original, most of its goodwill gets bogged down. Not enough for me to deprive the movie of a cautious recommendation, but just enough to reinforce the sad state of mainstream entertainment.
For those of you who don't know or need a quick refresher, the original Jacob's Ladder released in 1990 is one of the most iconic and influential psychological horror/thrillers ever made. The story follows a Vietnam war veteran named Jacob (Tim Robbins) who mourns the loss of his young son while dealing with severe PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) causing hallucinations and anxiety. On top of that, Jacob slowly discovers a great mystery about his time in the war and is determined to solve it. That is, assuming he can decern the difference between fantasy and reality, or figure out which reality is actually his own. Featuring a gripping performance by Tim Robbins, gorgeously gritty cinematography by Jeffery L. Kimball, eerie and atmospheric music by Maurice Jarre, and all beautifully realized under the talented direction of Adrian Lyne, Jacob's Ladder stands tall as one of the best examples of genuinely good horror storytelling, and one of my favorite psychological thrillers of all time. What brief moments of gore it has are very few and far in between, not to mention only utilized in service of the story and not for the sake of just having it. If you have not yet seen this film, I encourage you to do so. It is a real must-see for any cinema buff.
The 2019 remake, on the other hand, is kind of a different beast entirely (almost).
In the remake, the story follows combat surgeon from the Iraq war named Jacob (Michael Ealy) who is dealing with PTSD as well as the loss of his brother Issac (Jesse Williams) who apparently served with Jacob and died in battle. Jacob, now working full time as a trauma surgeon with a loving wife and baby, seems to be adjusting as well as possible. That is until a stranger, who claims to have served with his brother Issac, confronts Jacob claiming that his brother is alive and on the run. Reluctantly, Jacob looks into the stranger's claims and, much to his shock finds his brother Issac alive but not very well. Turns out Issac got himself in the grasp of a drug addiction that is apparently linked to a discontinued experimental treatment for vets with PTSD. As Jacob digs deeper into the mystery, he finds that things are not all they appear to be. Will Jacob solve the mystery and save his brother, or will he discover more than he had bargained for?
The real problem with this remake is that it's technically not really a remake. There are only a handful of scenes that are nearly exact recreations of iconic scenes from the original, and most of the overall story is very similar. It has just enough recreated elements from the original to get away with calling itself a remake, but again, it's really not.
What's frustrating is that I cannot describe the significant difference between the two films without spoiling them. While I recognize that the original is almost thirty years old, I know there are those who still have not yet seen it, and I want to ensure they have a chance to do so with a clean slate. So, here's what I'm going to do. If you want to avoid SPOILERS, then ignore any and all paragraphs that are written in Red.
Okay? Cool. Moving on
SPOILERS:
So, in both films, there is an element of mystery revolving around an experimental drug being tested on vets. In the original, this was just a subplot that mostly served as a means to comment on the mistreatment of soldiers by the government during the Vietnam war. Turns out Jacob, as well as a bunch of other soldiers including his squadmates, were secretly fed an experimental drug that would increase their ferocity, making them more efficient in battle. Sadly, they all ended up killing each other rather than the enemy as the drug was not stable. This was one of the many twists in the original leading up to the revelation that Jacob is, in actuality, dying of a lethal wound in Vietnam, and that all he has been experiencing up to the end of the story was all in his mind as he reconciled with his life and embraced his own death. Finding peace with the choices he had made.
The remake, on the other hand, takes that same subplot from the original and turns it into the main plot. Wherein it turns out that Jacob had been taking an experimental drug meant to treat his PTSD by removing the traumatic memories that are causing it. However, it turns out that the drug has one major side-effect: It causes the subjects bad memories to be replaced with entirely different ones. In Jacob's case, all of his memories of his marriage, his child, and his brother's drug addiction, never actually happened. Jacob's brother, Issac, was the one who got married, had a child, and never even touched drugs. Later on, Jacob discovers that he had been helping out a scientist who was trying to perfect the same drug and was using vets as Guinea Pigs for his experiments.
The problem with this difference is that it completely changes the themes and overall point from the original. Because Jacob in the original eventually dies, all of the strange experiences he has are manifestations of his struggle to stay alive and the fear of death. Meaning there are specific moments in the film that reflect and hint at this very idea. The remake retains many of the scenes and elements that served the same purpose in the original, except they don't make any sense in the remake, because the new version of the story is not about Jacob's reconciliation with his life, but something else entirely not even remotely related. Yes, Jacob does die at the end of the remake, but only as a last-minute contrivance. This is what I mean when I say this movie doesn't really feel like a remake, but rather as a completely different film that just added a few familiar scenes and slapped the title onto itself only so it could get your attention through name recognition. Even worse, the movie didn't really need to do so, because it was good enough on its own as a different kind of thriller.
For those of you who skipped the Red paragraphs, the short version is that the remake is too different from the original to really qualify as a remake, and only uses a few iconic scenes and the title to bank on name recognition.
In spite of this lack of truth in advertising (sort of), I would still kind of recommend this movie. It has enough competence within itself to, at the very least, be entertaining in its own way, and the whole cast does a fantastic job with the material. At the time of this writing, both versions of the film are available OnDemand and on various streaming services such as iTunes and Amazon. Neither film is yet available on Netflix. If you are interested in either film, I highly recommend you at least watch the original first. It is a superior story with deeper themes and statements that the "remake" is too afraid to even try and contemplate. While the "remake" is still an okay film in its own right, it cannot measure up to the original. At least not in my opinion.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am TheNorm, thank you all for reading.
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