Jacob's Ladder

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Tim Robbins gives a strong performance in this first-class horror yarn, which has a surprisingly strong political edge.

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]

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.

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.

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.

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

Truly frightening and visually unique, this messy, challenging film is anchored by Tim Robbins' remarkable performance.

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.

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]

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]

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]

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.

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.

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]

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]

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]

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.

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]

Time Staff (Not Credited)

Director Adrian Lyne has encapsulated the cliches of three decades in a single dreadful and hysterical movie.

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.

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.