Jacob's Ladder

TriStar Pictures | Release Date: November 2, 1990

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

62	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

David Sterritt

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

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]

Janet Maslin

The ending of Jacob's Ladder, when it finally arrives, is, like much of the film, both quaint and devastating. Read full review

Roger Ebert

This movie left me reeling with turmoil and confusion, with feelings of sadness and despair. Those are the notes it strives for. Read full review

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. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

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

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. Read full review

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]

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]

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]