june gloom on 18/8/2012 at 07:41

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You fucking ninja'd me. That's what's going on here.

demagogue on 18/8/2012 at 08:35

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The last few minutes actually happened I thought, and maybe some of the "memories" were memories of real things. My interpretation was the drug was about the only thing that happened. They get drugged, then they went out, got shot up, heard a few loose comments by doctors or whatever about the drug in some comatose state, and the drug-induced fleeting dreams of J before he died on the table were the whole movie. I don't recall but I think he never does realize he's in a dream, so from his perspective it's like "something's not right with reality" and it's glitchy. Only we know it's not reality at all.

demagogue on 18/8/2012 at 09:11

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I knew that much (edit: that the whole reality was just the last few minutes), but I'm hazy on the last few minutes (edit: what the mortal wound actually was). So that was a little reconstructive memory of my own I guess.

Edit: I'd still say there's a little mental glitch though, not drug-induced but more like blood & oxygen deprived deathbed glitch.

Sulphur on 18/8/2012 at 09:31

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No. It's an examination of the concept of purgatory and a pretty subversive take on the assumptions we make when we control an avatar. SH1 is more directly inspired by JL, as is 3. SH2 takes the foundation laid in SH1 and uses it to explore darker, more personal things.

june gloom on 18/8/2012 at 10:14

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I really do recommend you search for the PS2 versions. Even though Konami supposedly patched the HD collection from what I'm hearing it's still not good enough.

I'm largely being facetious when I call JL the real SH2 movie, but there are connections to be made. In many ways Jacob's Ladder was a sort of examination of purgatory as well -- keeping in mind the chiropractor and his philosophy. And anyway, James' jacket is exactly the same as Jacob's -- a US Army M65 Field Jacket.