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Persepolis
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Honeydripper
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In Bruges
66
Darfur Now
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
65
Grace Is Gone
64
Chronicle of an Escape
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Spiderwick Chronicles, The
60
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59
Under the Same Moon
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Flawless
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Hammer, The
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Walker, The
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My Blueberry Nights
51
Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland
50
Other Boleyn Girl, The
49
Cassandra's Dream
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
47
Boarding Gate
47
Semi-Pro
46
Finishing the Game
46
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
46
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46
Rambo
45
Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns
44
Rails & Ties
44
Chaos Theory
42
Bucket List, The
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Funny Games
41
Drillbit Taylor
40
Vantage Point
38
Flash Point
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War, Inc.
36
Remember the Daze
36
Eye, The
35
Jumper
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Flakes
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10,000 B.C.
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Fool's Gold
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Sex and Death 101
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Strange Wilderness
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Jack and Jill vs. the World
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Jacob's Ladder
TriStar Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for restricted, under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
Starring
Tim Robbins,
Elizabeth Peña,
Danny Aiello,
Ving Rhames,
Eriq La Salle,
Jason Alexander,
Patricia Kalember,
and
Macaulay Culkin
The life of a traumatized Vietnam vet. begins to unravel as the line between reality and nightmarish visions becomes blurred.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
Fantasy
|
Mystery
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Bruce Joel Rubin
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Adrian Lyne
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: July 14, 1998
Theatrical: November 2, 1990
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
115 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
91
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Tim Robbins gives a strong performance in this first-class horror yarn, which has a surprisingly strong political edge.
91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Jacob's Ladder is also undeniably spooky. It creates and maintains a mood of paranoia, its special visual effects are original and nightmarish, and it has at least three sequences as haunting as anything I've seen in some time. [2 Nov 1990, p.9]
90
The New York Times
Janet Maslin
The ending of Jacob's Ladder, when it finally arrives, is, like much of the film, both quaint and devastating.
88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
This movie left me reeling with turmoil and confusion, with feelings of sadness and despair. Those are the notes it strives for.
88
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
I wouldn't go so far as to classify Jacob's Ladder as a masterpiece, but it is smart and compelling and unquestionably worth a first or second look.
88
TV Guide
Staff (Not Credited)
Truly frightening and visually unique, this messy, challenging film is anchored by Tim Robbins' remarkable performance.
80
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Thanks to a remarkable script by Bruce Joel Rubin and the directorial skills of Adrian Lyne, this works as both a highly effective stream-of-consciousness puzzle thriller offering the viewer not one but many "solutions" and an emotionally persuasive statement about the plight of many American vets who fought in Vietnam.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Jacob's Ladder is a cheat - but a talented, disturbing, beguiling cheat. We don't know we've been truly had until it's finally over, when the screen fades and the lights rise and we wake up with a start, deliciously unnerved. [2 Nov 1990, p.D3]
75
Chicago Tribune
Dave Kehr
There's little doubt that Jacob's Ladder is a failure-it's a messy, unsatisfying and often overreaching film-yet it fails in interesting, ambitious ways. It's a must-see disaster. [2 Nov 1990, p.C]
63
USA Today
Mike Clark
One sits through Ladder halfway engrossed, though always with a sense that its impending punchline will render the preceding an industrial- strength put-on. Then again, there are people out there who thought Ghost was profound. [2 Nov 1990, p.6D]
60
Empire
Ian Nathan
Despite all the confusion, it's a simple case of the script being too ambitious. It may emulate a man experiencing flashbacks, but it doesn't help the audience.
60
Washington Post
Desson Howe
True to his resume, director Lyne produces a frenetic battery of visceral images, ominous music and that ol' faithful standby, the eerie background chorus. To give Lyne his relentless due, this does make for some heart-thumping moments. But it also causes Ladder to fall ultimately flat on its surrealistic face, the victim of too many fake-art sequences.
50
Wall Street Journal
Julie Salamon
As a metaphysical exploration of otherworldliness, Jacob's Ladder has a kind of morbid intensity, for those who like that sort of thing. The picture flounders, however, with its insistence on injecting a little politics into the paranormal brew. [1Nov 1990, p.A20]
50
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
The strength of Jacob's Ladder is that we never know what the next scene will be. But that's also its weakness. We don't feel involved with the characters here. We just feel jerked around. Jacob's Ladder, finally, is bummer theater. [2 Nov 1990, p.73]
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Stack
If you ask too many questions about Jacob's Ladder, you're likely to burst the bubble. For all its emotional sizzle and spit, it leaves you hanging. Yet the ride to Lyne's middle-of-nowhere is almost worth it. [2 Nov 1990, p.E1]
42
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The movie, a piece of luridly baroque metaphysical trash, is about a Vietnam veteran who keeps getting jolted by demonic visions.
40
Los Angeles Times
Peter Rainer
Really effective horror films make us participants in the horror. Jacob's Ladder doesn't draw us in in that way. It's a movie about interior states that's all on the outside. [30 Oct 1990, p.1]
30
Time
Staff (Not Credited)
Director Adrian Lyne has encapsulated the cliches of three decades in a single dreadful and hysterical movie.
30
Washington Post
Hal Hinson
Here, Lyne indulges more in misdirection than in direction; he's a magician turning a sleazy trick. But even his technical skill breaks down. The picture is garbled and cliched.
30
Variety
Staff (Not Credited)
Jacob's Ladder means to be a harrowing thriller about a Vietnam vet (Tim Robbins) bedeviled by strange visions, but the $40 million production is dull, unimaginative and pretentious.
 The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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