mikedegroot

I rarely rate a movie a 1, but this movie totally deserves it. Everything about it is complete trash, but the "music" is laughably bad. There is a montage about 23 minutes in, that is set to one of the worst butt-rock cheesiest songs that I have ever heard, which is probably the most cringeworthy 5 minutes of any movie ever made. Seriously. I had to pause the movie at this point because I was straight up laughing too hard to continue watching it. Perhaps the only reason to watch this movie is to get a good laugh from this God-awful moment. Soooooo cheesy. 1/10

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

First off, this film is classified as a horror comedy, but the only real comedy comes in the form of a few awkward moments and a couple attempts of 4th wall breaking humor of Millennials and Boomers taking some cringeworthy jabs at each other (which are not funny at all and seriously bring it down a whole point by themselves).

To keep this review short and to the point, any positives that I have to say about this film goes to the production and acting. There is some nice cinematic shots, good sound design, and solid effects. The acting is slightly above average but there will be no award nominations coming their way for this movie.

The story on the other hand, is a mixed bag of mediocrity. It is all over the place and changes tone several times during the film. At some points it tries to be a serious thriller. At other points it is a light-hearted dramedy. Yet at other times it's an arthouse parody that really makes little sense.

Overall the movie is weird and doesn't seem to have a good sense of itself. There are a couple good scenes and there is some decent production to it, but the majority of it is a just a nonsensical mess that's just not very entertaining. Not a film that you're going to want to watch twice and very forgettable. 4/10