Jacob's Ladder (I) (1990) User Reviews

More than a movie

[travisyoung · 8/10 · 5 July 2008]

Jacob's Ladder is a superbly crafted film that transcends mere entertainment and becomes an experience much greater than the sum of its parts. When you watch movies such as this, you are unleashing very powerful forces that short circuit your natural ability to remain in control. Much akin to narcotic addiction or hypnotism, upon first viewing you will be unable to think, act, or even believe apart from the intense feelings Jacob's Ladder inspires.

Tim Robbins is Jacob Singer, a warm and genuinely likable Vietnam veteran who, in spite of earning an advanced doctoral degree, chooses to find employment working for the U. S. Postal Service. We learn in bits and pieces as the plot unfolds that his service in Vietnam included a very frightening battle, and the events set in motion on that fateful day parallel what could be his descent into madness.

Jacob's life suddenly begins to resemble Hell. He is literally chased by confusion, fear, and death, he sees unbelievably terrifying images, has horrific experiences that whether real or imagined are too frightening to bear alone. His only comfort comes in the form of the woman he lives with, Jezzie (the late Elizabeth Peña), and his chiropractor, Louis (Danny Aiello). Each of these people's relationships with Jacob represent more than just the roles they fulfill in his life-they are absolute forces at battle for his sanity, and possibly even his soul.

His torment begins to include the past as well, the undeniable love he still has for his ex-wife and painful memories of his son Gabe, who died tragically in an accident (played by a young Macauley Culkin). As all these elements of the past, present and future collide in shocking hallucinations, Jacob slowly begins to suspect he could be the victim of a secret Army drug experiment gone terribly wrong.

With a haunted desperation, he embarks on a journey to find out what on earth happened to him-only his visions / flashbacks / flashforwards have become so delusional that reality and fantasy are hopelessly interwoven and nothing is as it seems. All that is decipherable is good and evil, life and death. And at the end of his nightmare, all he has to do is choose.

That's all I will share of the story. I'm not going to do you the disservice of spoiling the experience this movie is. Suffice it to say, there is much more to know, and nothing left to tell.

Meanwhile, there is not enough that can be said of Robbins' performance. Although he has had "more important" film roles, never before or since has Robbins portrayed naked human emotion so effortlessly and without artiface; though this will not be his most remembered role, it is his personal best to date. Also in top form is director Adrian Lyne. Likewise, Jacob's Ladder is by far his personal best, though he may remain better known for his other more commercially successful films, such as Fatal Attraction and 9 &1/2 Weeks.

Jacob's Ladder is not a horror movie as some may deduce; It is human drama, masterfully disguised as a supernatural thriller. The basic elements of Jacob's Ladder have been plundered several times over the past few decades by technicians such as as Shyamalan who aspire (but fail) to be artists, and franchises like The Conjuring that aspire (but fail) to be art. We have been suckered by flashy films with clever plot twists that cheat us on story, characters, and technical excellence, and in so doing we have lost the discovery of real feelings while the lights flicker before us.

Films such as Jacob's Ladder are set apart from the rest of the pack because you don't just watch stuff like this, you feel it too.

I enjoyed it much more after a second viewing

[Idocamstuf · 8/10 · 15 January 2003]

I remember viewing this movie a couple years back and I did not get a lot out of it, I thought it was just too weird. In fact, I even wrote a review of the film on here. I'm glad I gave it another try because I really got a lot more out of it after the second viewing. Maybe it was because my expectations of the film were lower or I have matured in past few years. Anyway, this is a highly fascinating and entertaining thriller about a Vietnam veteran who always feels like there is somebody or something "out to get him". He feels this way because he keeps seeing strange images and many people in which he comes in contact with appear to have horns growing out of their heads and whatnot. Him and his war buddies believe that these strange occurrences are the result of something that happened during the war. The best element of this film is its atmosphere and paranormal feel which will really give you the creeps as well as have you guessing what the cause of the strange occurrences that are affecting Jacob really are. Well worth viewing, and if it doesn't grab you on the first viewing, don't hesitate to try it again, you may enjoy it more. 8/10.

A visual masterpiece of horror and conspiracy.

[eraceheadd · 8/10 · 21 March 2000]

This is easily one of Adrian Lyne's best films. Tim Robbins is excellent and the visual affects were just awesome. I saw this movie for the first time in the theatre and it blew me away. I've seen it many times after that, purely for the visuals that were done so well. The plot twists and turns as it spirals downward slowly revealing the truth and keeps you guessing all the way to the surprising ending. This is a dark, violent, beautiful movie that I recommend to all people who love horror, and just a smart story that will keep you in suspense until the very end.

More to be felt through than thought through.

[travisgentry · 13 October 2001]

After reading several reviews on this film I thought I would add my two cents. This remains one of my favorite movies and I never hesitate to take in another viewing. A lot of people seem to be noting the loose script and story elements as the film's weaknesses, going so far as to call it messy and incoherent. The fact that even after seeing it several times there's still some mystery in it, still some ambiguity as to the possible meanings to all of the things that go on with Jacob, is what I find most appealing. It's not a film like the Sixth Sense where all of the pieces fall into place at just the right time and you know exactly where you stand. It's something rather that is left to the imagination of the viewer, a rare thing when audiences en mass want clear cut explanations and easy answers (hence the success of Sixth Sense, a great film in it's own right, but the complete opposite of this one).

The visuals are incredible and highly influential. The techniques used in this film have since been overused and distilled throughout various horror movies and music videos, but without ever coming close to the power of the original, which presents some of the most psychologically terrifying images ever to appear on screen. I think it's hard to come to this movie for the first time today and experience it the way you could have eleven years ago, when these type of images had yet to be seen and were exposed to completely unsuspecting audiences. The best way to see this movie is with absolutely no knowledge of it beforehand.

The mood is perfect. The acting is great, the dialogue is outstanding. Danny Aielo explaining to Jacob about angels and demons still moves me to this date and the two simple words suddenly spoken to a disbelieving Jacob from some unseen source while in the Asylum scene still terrify like no other movie can. Also this may be the Home Alone kid's best film.

The extra scenes on the DVD range from average to terrifying, including the omitted "antidote" scene, something I'm glad I didn't see when I was younger because it might have scarred me for life :). Also there is a perplexing and scary scene omitted at the end where Jacob confronts Jezebel. There is alot of digital grain in some of the shots. I would like to see a better quality DVD put out for this one, but I'll take what I can get with the added scenes.

See this movie then see it again and then see it three years later. Don't over-analyze and worry if some of it doesn't make sense, after all it's not all supposed to.

The grandfather of "rubber reality" films

[BrandtSponseller · 10/10 · 1 March 2005]

The film begins with Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) and his platoon in Vietnam. When they're suddenly attacked, it's chaos, and the platoon appear to be the victims of some kind of chemical warfare. Jacob is stabbed in the stomach with a bayonet. Suddenly, without explanation, we see Jacob back in New York City. He's returned home from the war and he's trying to get his life back on track, but he keeps having odd experiences, seeing odd, frightening people, and having close calls with death. He cannot tell "dreams" from reality. What happened to him in Vietnam?

Jacob's Ladder is the grandfather of the "rubber reality" films that became so popular throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. The films with the most direct influence from Jacob's Ladder have appeared more recently-- Memento (2000), Mulholland Dr. (2001), The I Inside (2003), and The Butterfly Effect (2004). Less obvious, but also strongly influenced are films such as Abre los ojos (1997)/Vanilla Sky (2001), eXistenZ (1999), The Thirteenth Floor (1999) and The Matrix (1999), as well as films where the "rubber reality" is usually played more straight, such as The Sixth Sense (1999) and The Others (2001).

Of course, like any artwork, Jacob's Ladder has its precursors, too, such as the short story by Ambrose Bierce called "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", which was originally published in 1891 and later used as a basis of a silent film called The Spy (1929), and then a French short entitled La Riviere du hibou (literally "The River of the Owl"), the latter also airing as an episode of "The Twilight Zone" (1959). There is a very strong religious/mythical allegory running throughout the film--seen in everything from the Judeo/Christian nature of the character's names and the title of the film itself to character interests, as Jacob begins extensively studying demonology, the occult and so forth in an attempt to figure out what is happening to him. We are also treated to subtle connections with other works, such as philosopher Albert Camus' novel L'Etranger ("The Stranger"), which Jacob is reading in the film when we first see him on the subway, and there are many at least subtle stylistic and content precursors, such as Altered States (1980).

In light of the subsequent instantiations of the film's brand of rubberizing reality, as well as the more purely stylistic elements that have been used to often excellent effect in later films, such as the hyper kinetic figural motion that found its way into William Malone's films House on Haunted Hill (1999) and Fear dot Com (2002), Jacob's Ladder may seem relatively transparent or even tame. It's certainly easier to reach an interpretation for this than for a film like Mulholland Dr., where director David Lynch is purposefully obfuscatory. Still, Jacob's Ladder is one of the better films of its kind. Director Adrian Lyne achieved a continually offsetting creepiness that is rarely matched, and some scenes--such as the gurney journey through the increasingly dilapidated hospital corridors, could not possibly be topped.

Seen in the context of Lyne's other films Jacob's Ladder is all the more surprising, as the bulk of his career has been focused on hyper sensual and sexy dramas and thrillers--such as 9 1/2 Weeks (1986), Fatal Attraction (1987), Indecent Proposal (1993), Lolita (1997) and Unfaithful (2002). Jacob's Ladder has its share of eroticism, however, mostly through the gorgeous and impassioned Jezebel (Elizabeth Pena), even though her most heated moment has her appropriately fraternizing with a demon.

Lyne's relatively straightforward approach to the film's elastic ontology, especially in conjunction with his tendency to be forthcoming and thorough in explaining his view of the plot (a predilection shared by scriptwriter Bruce Joel Rubin) may be unfortunate in that there is an interpretation of Jacob's Ladder accepted by a vast majority as the "right answer". That's a shame because there are countless possible readings of this material; differing views on everything from the general crux to the smallest minutiae. Part of the inherent beauty of the film is that any scene or set of scenes may equally be taken as the "real events", and any of the dialogue may be taken as providing clues to your preferred interpretation.

Robbins' performance is important to the film in that he is the focal point of almost every scene and has to convincingly play a vast range of emotions; he does so with finesse. The rest of the cast is noteworthy, even though their questionable nature gives them a lot of leeway in terms of verisimilitude and consistency.

But the real driving force that makes Jacob's Ladder such a success is its eeriness. This is a horror film after all, both on psychological and more apparent supernatural levels. Lyne continually and disconcertingly pulls the rug from beneath not only Jacob, but the audience as well, yet manages to never make a viewer feel lost, instead producing an eagerness to solve the "mystery" while you root for Jacob.

Brilliant, Brutal and Sad at the Same Time...

[ecatalan98 · 10/10 · 19 December 2021]

When I 1st saw "Jacob's Ladder" in the early 90s, what appealed to me was the surrealistic horror and nightmarish atmosphere it creates, and its bittersweet ending.

As years have gone by and having seen this film over a dozen times, I've grown to appreciate not only the aspects I mentioned before, but also its intense religious subtext and Jacob's intense guilt feelings for losing his youngest son.

For starters, I'm not a very religious guy, yet the biblical overtones are hard to ignore and become fascinating once you tie the pieces together.

In a nutshell, "Jacob's Ladder" tells the fight of Jacob Singer during his last minutes of life after being brutally stabbed in the stomach with a bayonet. A lot of people have complained they felt the film was all over the place and has a disorienting effect. While this is true, it's like this for a reason. What we see as "flashbacks" of Jacob's time in Nam is actually the REAL timeline. The rest of the movie is in Jacob's head as he fights to stay alive, creating himself a life after the war, working as a mailman and living with his girlfriend Jezebel. Within this "created life", he has flashbacks of his REAL life: his wife Sarah and their three children, the loss of their youngest son and their eventual break up.

It's the loss of his youngest son, Gabe (an uncredited Macaulay Culkin, just a few months from becoming a household name with "Home Alone") that's the saddest part of this movie. Did Jacob feel guilty for his death? Was his son's death the reason for his marital break up?

Even though Jacob was dreaming of a life after Nam, his love for his family and specially Gabe was very real, that's why the ending has so much weight. When Jacob sees Gabe sitting on the stairway, he goes to him, not knowing if he's dreaming again or if it's real (within his death dream). Gabe embraces his dad and tells him that they should go "up". Heaven? The afterlife? Gabe becomes his saving Angel, he reunites with his most cherished son in the end. It's beautiful scene, being "rescued" from hell by a loved one must be the perfect way to go.

Adrian Lyne was pitch perfect with this film. He could've easily done some typical early 90s style horror, with demons and all that stuff, but most of it is implied, save for a few terrifying scenes. Tim Robbins gives a brilliant performance, just as brilliant as his "Shawshank Redemption" one a few years later. It's a shame the Academy (as usual) passed on this great, great performance. Elizabeth Peña, as Jacob's made up girlfriend "Jezzie" is also brilliant as well as Danny Aiello's brief but extremely important scenes and dialog.

Maurice Jarre's score is both, horrific and painfully beautiful and haunting. The music for some of the horrific scenes sound like stuff you would hear on an Einstürzende Neubauten album (brutal industrial music), while the main theme is a beautiful piano piece, both haunting and sad, very sad. Probably my favorite Jarre score, as good if not better than "Ghost" (from that same year).

As with Kubrik films, you will find new details with repeated viewing. Sure, it's a harrowing film experience, but those brave enough will savor each new viewing. I've grown to love this film as time goes by. Give "Jacob's Ladder" a chance and you too will also love it.

Great nightmarish images

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 15 September 2014]

New York postal worker Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) has nightmarish hallucinations stemming from his horrific Vietnam War experience. His wife Jezzie (Elizabeth Peña) struggles to help him. He is also haunted by his first marriage to Sarah and his dead son Gabe (Macaulay Culkin). Louis (Danny Aiello) is a chiropractor whose adjustments unleashes a long paranoid demonic nightmare.

This is a great movie of a personal nightmare. It's a very good performance of a paranoid character from Tim Robbins. Some of the images are actually quite disturbing. It may be the first time that I noticed the shaking head effects. The long nightmare does meander a little. It's hard to expect hallucinations to drive a straight line to a destination. The final reveal is problematic and pulls the rug from the rest of the movie.

An underrated horror that needs to be discovered.

[elizabethdawson-78805 · 7/10 · 25 July 2018]

Jacob's Ladder has attained cult status and rightly so- this is a haunting psychological horror film with some surreal imagery and scenes which will make you distinctly squirm. Tim Robbins plays Vietnam vet who is suffering from perhaps post traumatic disorder or something else. He realizes that almost the entirety of his battalion is also going through something similar. He decides to make sense of this and get answers. As mentioned earlier the images are surreal and terrifying as is the slow descent into madness that we as audiences feel. The tone is suitably dreary with low lights, dripping rain and shadows. Go watch Jacob's Ladder to be creeped out.

Outstanding Tale of Psychological Terror

[dnjjr · 10/10 · 27 May 2006]

N.B.: Spoilers within. If you have never seen "Jacob's Ladder," do not read beyond this first paragraph. I would never ruin the special experience for the first-time viewer. Just know that it is not for the faint of heart, but that none of its disturbing material – which there is a lot of – is gratuitous: I promise you. If you're up for the film's emotional intensity, graphic visual style, and thought-provoking plot, then see it. Period.

This entire movie (except for a single scene I can think of) takes place in, is made of, Jacob Singer's mind. He is on a long, agonizing search. What really happened to him in Vietnam? Why are demons tormenting him? Why are secretive army thugs harassing him? Why is his very existence a disintegrating fugue between three worlds? Is he even alive, or is he experiencing hell? Ultimately, what is the meaning of his life?

Roughly in the manner of "Slaughterhouse Five," Jacob lurches uncontrollably between 'Nam, life with Jezebel, and life with Sarah and their two sons. Which is real, and which is only a dream? We are kept guessing, and this really propels the story forward. Jezebel is a purposely complex character: highly sensuous, feisty and impatient, compassionate and concerned. Sarah and the children are all about stability and love. 'Nam is, of course, Jacob's worst nightmare. But his deepest anguish is the loss of his youngest, favorite son, Gabe, who died in a tragic, untimely accident.

Evil seems to be winning the war through much of the film, but Jacob's visits to his chiropractor, Louis, are oases of relief and Light. Louis is literally the film's guardian angel: sage, mentor, savior. Not only does this angel bravely extract Jacob from a hellish entrapment in the hospital; his wise words (see below) revisit Jacob in the penultimate scene and help him achieve his final release. The appearance late in the film of "the Chemist" offers another temporary reprieve from the terror, if only because he has an important piece of the Truth.

"Jacob's Ladder" of course does not belong to the traditional horror genre. It is far richer; a uniquely psychological-horror film. It is so effective because the viewer is inside Jacob's mental state, experiencing the horrors and fears as he does. For all the emphasis on evil, there is a thread of Good, often in symbolic Christian guise which structures the film in a long tradition. The main characters' names: Jacob, in the Bible the personification of personal struggle; Jezebel, thought of through the ages as all that is wicked in Woman (yet our Jezebel here is much more); Sarah, astonishing beauty; Eli, the Old Testament priest and judge; and Gabriel, the "Left Hand of God," chief messenger who is sent to earth to prophesy and aid. There is Jacob's Ladder, the gateway by which angels pass from heaven to earth and back. And there is the welcome presence of Louis, who quotes Meister Eckhart, the 14th-century Christian mystic and philosopher. In Jacob's most crucial meeting with Louis, he hears Eckhart's decisive wisdom. To crudely paraphrase: in death, or in one's fear of it, let go of all earthly concerns, and the demons will release you.

Director Adrian Lyne is brilliant here; this film has to be his magnum opus (to date). He works effectively between sustained eeriness, flat-out terror, and meditative quiet. Every technical element is impeccably realized and integrated, and the acting is first-rate. The character of Jacob has to be one of the most beaten down, harried, confused, and embattled I've ever seen, yet he is a fighter to the end. He drives himself toward the answers. Tim Robbins could have easily slipped into overdone caricature, but he finesses the role admirably. Elizabeth Pena captures the many shadings of Jezebel. Danny Aiello conveys persuasively Louis's strength and serenity. And kudos to writer Bruce Joel Rubin, who – after all of the dark, demonic struggles and bewildering reality bending – rewards Jacob, and us, with a transcendent resolution to the greatest questions there are at the end.

I won't even bother with what is real and what is not and what is what, except to say that the film may or may not be a take on the great Ambrose Bierce short story "An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge." Despite any concrete interpretations even by its director or writer, their own creation defies easy answers. I welcome a film of diverse readings. It means very different things to different people; it says something new with each viewing. (Personally speaking, I don't watch this film often; it has a powerful spell over me that I don't want to lose.)

A last word about the music: Maurice Jarre's haunting and unsettling score perfectly supports the story. His contribution to the feel of the moment is immense. Finally, there is the coup of using the song "Sonny Boy," which becomes a leitmotif for Gabe, the absolute love of Jacob's life. (It's an astounding fit: "...You're sent from heaven and I know your worth / You made a heaven for me right here on the earth / When I'm old and gray, dear, promise you won't stray, dear / for I love you, Sonny Boy.") Early in the film we briefly see Jacob bouncing along in his Postal truck: he is casually singing a broken version of the song. At Gabe's first appearance, the song sounds as if from a magical music box. A minute later, father and son sing it together as Gabe is tucked into bed. But, in a jaw-dropping stroke, the classic version by Al Jolson wafts into the air just after Jacob is pronounced dead in the final moments; it continues through the fade-to-black and into the credits...it segues into the beyond. Is it the last thought Jacob has on earth?

I was expecting more.

[lucas_mrz · 6/10 · 5 November 2020]

Reviews of this title may lead you to believe that this is a great movie. It's not. It's an ok movie, with great acting, but a not-so-great plot: somewhat predictable, with major holes and an absurd ending.

Granted, I'm watching this for the first time in 2020, it doesn't have the same "impact" that it may have had back in '92. But I'm writing this for people who haven't seen it yet.

Again, not bad, just not great. There are far better options in the genre. I won't recommend this one, for sure.

"Ascending the Celluloid Ladder"

[ramstar22 · 9/10 · 4 April 2005]

Is Jacob Singer dreaming? Is his life one giant nightmare? Is he simply hallucinating, suffering post traumatic stress syndrome form Vietnam? We don't know. But director Adrianne Lynn will show us Jacob's nightmare. He will take into the depths of one man's hell and in the process, attempt to explain poor Jacob's psychosis.

Jacob SInger (Tim Robbins) returned from Vietnam different. He is now haunted by horrid visions of demons, strange entities and people who may or may not want to hurt him. He confides in his girlfriend Jezzie (Elizabeth Pena), but she cannot fathom the horror that Jacob is experiencing. He seeks guidance from his chiropractor (Danny Aiello), an old friend who holds some all too wise wisdom. And Jacob is still broken by the death of his young son. He still mourns despite seeming to begin a new life away from his old family (he is divorced). Yet when he is on the subway, he sees a man with what appears to be a tail. When at a party, he witnesses his girlfriend dance erotically with a winged creature. And then there are the faces, faceless beings that shake rapidly. Is Jacob crazy or did something happen in Vietnam?

Jacob's Ladder is scary not because it is filled with gore. No one is eviscerated, maimed or disembowled. The true terror is psychological, touching the very core of what can disturb. We are not frightened, shielding our eyes from the screen, hiding in the shoulder of a significant other. No, we are unsettled yet mesmerized, astounded by what we are seeing. The most frightening images are the ones you can't look away from.

Take for instance the scene with Jacob on his bed, grieving over the loss of his son. We see the desolate apartment, we hear the quiet and we feel his anguish. The fact that we see a man violently vibrate his body, howling and shrieking a horrible sound is off settling. That man is not supposed to be there. Jacob knows that. We know that. Yet the director, Lynn, knows this as well. And by incorporating an image so... unusual at such an abrupt moment, it shows us the level that the film has taken. Lynn is now able to do anything, show us anything. He has become the puppeteer not only of the characters but of the audience. When a director takes away your entire sense of reality, he becomes dangerous and the audience is more alone than ever.

The ending is a matter of perspective and interpretation. One can look at it as closure. Another can look at it as a cop out: a display of cleverness. But everything that has been leading up to it has been exhilarating, a true showcase of the surreal. The fact is one cannot leave "Jacob's Ladder" normal. You just can't. The film requires too many emotions. It requires too much thought. Even for a person who admires the film, even likes it, I still cannot end the movie without feeling different: silent, perhaps cold, disturbed yet maybe even enlightened.

This film could have not been made now. There is just no way that the quality would still remain, nor the genuine terror. Today, psychology has been replaced with cliché and story has been replaced with CGI. To think of truly great horror, none have ever been made post visual effects era. The fact that this film is not ruined by quick editing, over stylized cinematography and flashy effects is a testament to the time in which it was made. The dry, washed out color, grainy, gritty appearance and subtle, ambient score are all a credit to the late 80's, early 90's: an era where the practicality of effects added to the realism not detracted. Because of this, the story, plot and characters take over, a rare occasion in today's films.

The brilliance of Jacob's Ladder arises form the film's ability to only show us the "door." The director describes it to us and only hints at what is behind. We, as the audience, are required to figure out what is truly inside and ultimately open it. The problem with modern genre movies is that the director opens the "door" for us. Why can't we choose to examine the "door" and only wonder what is behind it? Wy can't we decide if we want to open it or not? Well, in the case of the film, it is not a "door" but a "ladder." We have to decide if we want to venture up or down. For me... I ventured up.

Jacob's Ladder takes you fairly high up, without quite reaching the job

[Samiam3 · 7/10 · 1 September 2010]

It's safe to argue I think that Jacob's Ladder is a good movie, but it felt to me like it could have been a great one. I know that some folks (including Roger Ebert) argue that it is a great movie, yet I see a bit of error. The problem (as is frequently the case with movies) is in storytelling. The plot elements don't come together in the best of fashions, leaving Jacob's Ladder without a clear sense of direction. One minute it's a horror film, the next minute, it's a thriller, then a war drama, then an emotional/psychological drama. Sometimes it's inventive, sometimes generic.

What I DO like about the movie, is that is is almost always interesting. Tim Robbin's gives a credible and very 'human' performance, even though it is not his best work. Adrian Lynn's direction and photography are competent, and when it wants to be, Jacob's Ladder can actually be a real shocker. It is a movie that finds a balance between horror and heart, not too sentimental but not too sissy either. It starts to run out of steam a bit at the end, but I'll gladly say that left me satisfied.

Not all it's cracked up to be

[Brakathor · 5/10 · 2 July 2021]

This film, while promising in the plot's development, in the end comes out as a bit of a hodgepodge, because it's based on top/down logic. Basically it's about a guy who's on his deathbed, and most of the film centers around an elaborate dream he's having as he's dying. What makes me feel so cheated by the ending is that in the dream there's this whole unraveling of a plot that's supposed to be centered around not just his wartime experiences, but what led to his death.

The problem is, it's ALL a dream! Therefore, you can't tie in a SINGLE thing explained in the dream to what's actually happening to him. The government testing drugs on its soldiers, well THAT'S neither here nor there, because the big reveal by the guy who developed the drug, he's just a dream character, i.e. A figment of Tim Robbin's imagination, so in the end, it's JUST about a guy dying from a stab wound, and the whole drug premise is completely illusory. I find overall, "mystery" films as a genre, films for people who absolutely LOVE twist endings, are basically for people with the sensibilities of a goldfish. You'll accept ANY twist that comes your way, because you literally can't remember the first half of the film, which COMPLETELY conflicts with the final analysis, and this film is no different in that regard.

Way before Shyamalan came on board, Adrian Lyne had blown the collective consciousness!

[uds3 · 9 October 2003]

One "reviewer" here wrote (I presume) in all seriousness "Like a bad dream - impossible to understand!" That being the case, I can only describe his subsequent attempt to compile a review as "gutsy" in the extreme.

I believe JACOB'S LADDER is one of the 10 best films ever made. It is NOT impossible to understand...you merely have to listen and interpret! For those without the ability to effect the latter...just listen! Danny Aiello's character, Louis the chiropracter lays it out for you - word for word. I think it is the best part Aiello ever had, small one though it is in terms of screen time. Integral to a collective grasp of this great and disturbing film however is the need to tie-in the relationship between Jacob the individual, the biblical "Jacob's Ladder" itself and the relevance of "The Ladder" as explained (and seemingly forgotten by most everybody) by the runty chemical weapons boffin at the near conclusion of the film.

To those who view the ending as "rushed," "unsatisfying," "obscure" even "dumb" as I recall, I would merely suggest you watch it again and take into account the likelihood is, that it is in fact YOU that has missed what has been so cleverly set out for you. SIGNS was equally misunderstood by the majority of people that even liked it - there never WERE any aliens!

JACOB'S LADDER is Robbins' greatest film - Lyne's too. The last few minutes are amongst the most emotional and uplifting scenes I have ever seen since the "star child" in 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY. Culkin was the perfect choice!

I saw this movie in a near deserted theater in Times Square the week it came out. At the conclusion of this particular late show I noticed an old man sitting some two rows away to my left, absorbed in his thoughts. Having to walk past him to gain the exit I noticed tears in his eyes. He looked up as I approached. After studying me for a moment all he said to me was "You understood didn't you?" I said, "Yes I understood!" He replied softly..."You're very lucky!"

Brilliant! On par with Kubrick!

[lbk · 10/10 · 26 July 2004]

Jacob's Ladder is a masterpiece. Nothing less.

It has a highly intelligent plot though not difficult or artsy and is void of cliches. It therefore confuses and aggravates many viewers and professional reviewers always wanting a standard has-it-all Hollywood outpouring.

It is so few films that leaves room for independent thoughts. Jacob's Ladder tumbles your mind the same way a dream of your own does. I have never felt this effect in a film so strong before. The images comes pouring in and your brain tries to make sense of it. Whenever you think you have a grasp it slides away again.

The brilliance of the progression of the story, twists and turns, and the final explanation, so obvious but elusive as real dreams are, makes it on par with the best of Kubrick.

original, scary, mesmerizing what more can I say?

[dbdumonteil · 10/10 · 27 September 2003]

For several years, there's a very trendy cinematographic genre. This is the "psychological fantastic". This genre is very successful as the movies: "the sixth sense" (1999), "what lies beneath" (2000) or "unbreakable" (2000) showed. All these movies must have been influenced by "Jacob's ladder". In this way, you can regard Adrian Lyne's movie as a precursory and innovative movie. Lyne achieved a masterstroke in an absolutely new genre for him. It means that you're very far from the atmosphere of "9 weeks and a half" or "fatal attraction".

"Jacob's ladder" is based on an outstanding screenplay including numerous weird details that increase the spectator's curiosity. It's precisely with the spectator that Lyne and Bruce Joel Robin, the scriptwriter play with. They take a malicious pleasure in getting the spectator lost in a real maze where seem to border dream and reality. Like Tim Robbins, you look for the clue to the mystery. This clue may be the chemist which Jacob's meeting at the refreshment bar truck. This chemist will lead the plot towards an amazing conclusion.

In Adrian Lyne's movie, there's also a part of the fantastic genre that is very well exploited: at first common and normal living conditions but that are little by little overcome by the unreal, the strange and the fear.

The movie also enjoys an outstanding performance to begin with Tim Robbins. A brilliant success and a movie that deserves to rank among the ten best fantastic movies of the nineties

Haunting Existential Thought Piece

[oggybleacher · 7/10 · 7 February 2023]

The thoughtfulness of this script haunts me over time and revisiting it every decade reminds me that the mood and bleakness of this movie makes sense in the context of this story and theme. Sometimes a film will rely on an aesthetic of bleakness that actually has no purpose except as some fantasy in the cinematographer's mind that the bleakness "adds" to the film. Usually, it does not. But Jakob's Ladder walks so close to the abyss of existentialism and afterlife that one must see the darkness before the dawn.

If we take the story for what it presents then A soldier has been gravely wounded in Vietnam and is having flashforward visions of a life that he can never have. This is like the most haunted version of A Christmas Carol ever. Because the events in his vision take place after the war, they actually never take place at all. He doesn't survive the war.

Because there is a suggestion that the soldiers were drugged by the military and turned on each other, we are also forced to suspect the narrator himself. He is drugged, after all. Also, the suggestion that the platoon was drugged was made in the future vision, that doesn't exist, so how can we trust that information revealed in a future vision is accurate for the past? We do not actually know if the platoon was drugged, only that Jakob was having a vision of the future in which someone reveals that the platoon was drugged as an explanation for why he was stabbed by a fellow soldier.

If the vision, and movie, is Jakob's extrasensory journey to death, all taking place in his dying brain on an operating table in Vietnam, then this detail about the platoon being drugged may be his own rationalization process about giving some motive and meaning to his own death.

And the characters we are introduced to, Louis, Jezebel, Sarah, Eli...don't exist. Perhaps never existed. While It's A Wonderful Life gives George Bailey a chance to see what his hometown is like if he had never been born, Jakob is given a chance to see parts of a life he would never have. He's invented all these characters to complete the life stolen from him by war and he's invented the conspiracy to give himself closure. Eli, Sarah, Jeze, his job as a messenger (Mail Man) are all invented during his coma. This was the life he lost, with all the complications and disappointments . The struggle is building something so imperfect and still letting go without making amends.

I must deduct points for the use of the melodramatic photo montage that seemed low hanging fruit. It's noteworthy that at least 20 minutes of this was cut to dumb it down so an audience would grasp some thread of meaning. Maybe the extra scenes would have been confusing and diluted the impact of the film which really covers a lot of ground at breakneck pace.

Jakob's Ladder has a rightful spot next to The Seventh Seal and A Christmas Carol and The Family Man for existential twists. It's dark in places but the light is there if you look for it.

Fantastic Movie/One Problem

[robherd · 9/10 · 5 January 2006]

I definitely fall into the "Loved this Movie" category. It works on so many different levels--as horror, suspense, mystery, thriller, even love story. In fact, I don't think this movie could've worked nearly as well if you didn't actually feel for this guy (Robbins) wholeheartedly. You can tell that this guy really loved his wife and his child. That's a testament to Robbins' performance. As others have said, I think the movie makes complete sense: Everything in the movie that occurred after Vietnam never really happened. He is simply imagining/hallucinating/dreaming it all as he lay dying in Vietnam. That's not to say that some of those events that he dreams about didn't really happen; for instance, his son really has died and he is now remembering him. And he really did work at a post office and probably had a crush on one of the workers there (Pena), so he is imagining a separate life with her. It all fit very well for me. However, I do have one problem with my own theory, and it's somewhat small, but important in my opinion. If everything after Vietnam never really happened, how did he find out about "The Ladder" (Bad LSD) as he lay dying? In the movie, an ex-Nam buddy tells him about it back in the States. But if he never actually went home, he would never have known about it, being that one of his own soldier-buddies attacks and mortally wounds him in the jungle. My best rationalization for this is that as he lay dying, he overheard some doctors or military personnel discussing what the bad LSD had wrought. Jacob then transposes those conversations into his own dreamlike state, creating the character of the hippie LSD scientist who created it. Yet it seems as though we are meant to believe that the scientist (Craven) actually did create it. It's the one part of the movie, for me, that crosses the line between the two worlds (reality and dreamlike/nightmare) and expects us to accept it. I wonder if anyone else has the same problem with this one pat of an otherwise fantastic movie.

An often harrowing journey...but what for purpose?

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 22 October 2015]

Tim Robbins gives a very fine performance as an ex-combat soldier flashing back on an incident in early-'70s Vietnam wherein he and his Army troupe came under the influence of something man-made and horrific. Director Adrian Lyne is a most unusual filmmaker; his main concern is in creating atmosphere through an imposing style putting pain and paranoia in a visually grandiose cinematic context. Unfortunately, this approach can be off-putting when considering some of the more unsettling images foisted at us (the plot is twisted enough without the many repugnant visuals). Robbins is easy and grounded in his role (commendable under the circumstances), but "Jacob's Ladder" is flamboyantly heavy-handed--a drama-cum-horror movie dragging exasperating loose ends behind it. Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin creates an anguished netherworld of nightmarish suffering--which Lyne then hammers away at--prior to both men wrapping the picture up with a cold slap of reality. In retrospect, I don't think the climax betrays the audience, but neither is it particularly satisfying. **1/2 from ****

Brilliant!

[George_Bush · 9/10 · 19 May 2004]

SPOILER ALERT

Jacob's Ladder (1990) The opening scene in Jacob's Ladder takes place during the Vietnam War. A small group of US soldiers are joking around, but suddenly they are attacked by the enemy (apparently)! As the attack starts some of the GI's suffer from strange attacks and everything turns into chaos. Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is wounded by a bayonet but we don't see by who and why. The rest of the movie revolves around this day and what really happened.

Singer drops to the ground in Vietnam and we are taken to New York. The war is over and Singer has recovered from his wound and is now working as a postman even though he took a PhD before going to Vietnam. The reason: After the war he "didn't want to think anymore". He has left his wife Sarah, and now lives with his girlfriend Jezebel (Elizabeth Peña). Sarah and Jacob had three children together, but one, Gabe (Macaulay Culkin), was killed in an automobile accident before Jacob went to Vietnam.

Jacob suffers from eerie attacks in which he is hunted by inhuman beings. At a party he has one of his attacks and he sees Jezebel dancing and having sex with a demon on the dance floor (looks like something from a hentai cartoon). One day Jacob receives a call from one of his old Vietnam buddies. He suffers from the same attacks, and he is convinced it's demons and he's going to hell. He is freed from his torment when his car blows up just after he and Jacob parted. It turns out that the whole platoon is suffering from the same attacks, and they believe that the army must have done something to them. They ask a lawyer, Geary (Jason Alexander), to take their case and he initially accepts.

Now the movie turns momentarily into a government conspiracy thriller, because Jacob learns that his army buddies have abandoned the case and so has the lawyer. Jacob is pretty sure that the army has pressured them out. He is proved correct when he himself is forced into a car for a 'friendly' conversation with a couple of government thugs. Jacob fights them off and jumps out of the car. The landing hurts his weak back and he is taken to a hospital (after he has been robbed by Santa Claus, who steals the wallet with Jacobs only picture of Gabe). The movie is also known, as Dante's Inferno and we understand why when Jacob arrives at the hospital. This is my favorite scene in the movie – as if hospitals weren't scary enough… There are limbs and blood all over the place and strange and deform people crowd the hallways. The Evil Doctor (deservingly credited as such on IMDb!) tells Jacob that he's dead. Louis (Danny Aiello) who is Jacob's chiropractic gets him out.

Home again Jacob is contacted by Michael (Matt Craven) who worked as a chemist for the US army in Vietnam. He tells the story about The Ladder – a drug designed to turn soldiers into killing machines. The drug was first tested on animals and Vietcong soldiers with incredible and scary results – Jacob's platoon was the first US test subjects. They turned mad and killed each other! In this scene Lyne proves that the imagination is far better than any images when Michael tells about the drug testing – Michael never thought people could do such things to each other…

Earlier in the movie Louis told Jacob (which is the essential quote of the movie):

"Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you, he said. They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and... and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth".

Now Jacob returns to the house where he lived with Sarah. His dead son, Gabe, comes to get him. Hand in hand with Gabe, Jacob walks up the stairs into the light. The demons have turned into angels and Jacob is in heaven! Now we are taken back to Vietnam where Jacob dies in a MASH unit – the doctors couldn't do anymore, but they notice how peaceful Jacob looks. The only REAL things in the movie was the first and the last scene – the rest was a dream/hallucination/divine intervention…

I consider this to be Tim Robbins best performance ever and Adrian Lyne's best movie – a somewhat overlooked treasure (not on the horror board where most have seen it). The brilliant score by Maurice Jarre and beautiful cinematography by Jeffrey Kimball (True Romance and Stigmata) creates the perfect mood and atmosphere for this thoughtful experience. The movie isn't filled with special effects – often they just hint what's going on and leaves the rest to the imagination. The fast motion head jerks are very powerful and the same goes for the scene where Jezebel's eyes turn black – a scene also used very effective in The Passion of the Christ.

My rating: 9/10

Sound and Fury

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 8 July 2019]

"Jacob's Ladder" is like a David Lynch movie without the guts to just be a David Lynch movie.

Adrian Lyne has done a good job convincing people that he's a bolder director than he is thanks to the shock value in movies like this one and "Fatal Attraction." But at heart he's really a fairly pedestrian director, and "Jacob's Ladder" suffers for it. The film teases us with the possibility that it might go completely off its rocker, but the ending, though probably quite a plot twist at the time before there was an entire industry of plot twist movies, ties everything up with a disappointingly literal and dull bow. The movie has so many fits and starts, going back and forth in time, blurring the lines between reality and fiction, that it never really gets going. And Lyne and Co. mistake loud and gross for compelling and atmospheric; the film plays like one prolonged hysterical note of randomness. Crazy things just happen, but they happen so often and so relentlessly that we stop caring about why they're happening, and indeed even stop thinking they're that crazy within the world of the film. Roger Ebert, in his review of the film "Labyrinth" (which he didn't like by the way), said that if everything is arbitrary, then nothing matters. That's how I felt about "Jacob's Ladder."

The ending felt like a cheap trick rather than one grown organically from within the movie that preceded it.

Grade: B-

Anguishing, Intriguing, Original, Unique

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 7 October 2006]

On 06 Oct 1971, in Mekong Delta, Vietnam, the American soldier Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is wounded by a bayonet during an attack to his platoon. He wakes up in New York subway while going home late night after working overtime in the post office. He is divorced from Sarah (Patricia Kalember), lives with his colleague and lover Jezebel (Elizabeth Peña) is a small apartment in Brooklyn and misses his young son Gabe (Macaulay Culkin), who died in an accident where Jacob feels responsible for. Along the next days, Jacob is chased by demons and finds conspiracy in the army, while having different visions of different moments of his life.

Yesterday I saw "The Jacket" and I decide to see once more "Jacob's Ladder", maybe for the fifth time. This anguishing and intriguing story is one of the most original and unique I have ever seen, and has been plagiarized many times mainly in the foregoing mentioned "The Jacket". Tim Robbins gives another top-notch performance in the role of a troubled man resolving his life, due to the feeling of guilty for the loss of his younger son. Bruce Joel Rubin, who also wrote and produced "Ghost", "Jacob's Ladder" and "My Life", shows that is very connected with spiritual issues, approaching this theme in his films. The Brazilian title of this movie, "Alucinações do Passado" ("Hallucinations From the Past"), wrongly induces the viewer and destroys the dubious sense of the original title: Jacob is the lead character, "Ladder" is the name of the experiment his platoon and him had been submitted in Vietnam; but the interpretation of "Jacob's Ladder" in the Bible is that this is the only means to reach the total ecstasy, the plenitude, however, we need first supersede the obstacles that we find in our ascension. Further, "Jacob experienced a vision in which he saw a ladder reaching into heaven with angels going up and down it, a vision that is commonly referred to as Jacob's Ladder" (from "Wikipedia"). Another interesting aspect is that all the characters have biblical names. For example, Jezebel is considered the most wicked woman in the entire Bible (the character of Elizabeth Peña was responsible for the separation of Jacob and Sarah and maybe he was blaming her for keeping him far from his family); and Gabriel is the angel that explained signs from God and announced the conception, birth, and mission of Jesus to Mary. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Alucinações do Passado" ("Hallucinations From the Past")

Note: On 19 May 2009, I saw this movie again, now on DVD.

Not A Worthless Movie , But ...

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 14 September 2004]

... Would it be so well regarded if it wasn't so bizarre ?

I first saw JACOB'S LADDER in the mid 1990s . It's a film very similar to THE VILLAGE in that it split the critics right down the middle as to its ending . Upon seeing it for the first time I thought it was rather weird and while not exactly cheating didn't seem all that different to " He woke up and it was all a dream " type ending

I've seen the movie a couple of times since which is something of a back handed compliment , after all if you know what the ending is JACOB'S LADDER still has some worth . Can you say the same about THE VILLAGE ?

I can totally understand why the screenplay had a problem being produced . Imagine you're head of a studio and this script arrives on your desk . How are you going to market it ? It starts off as a war movie , then becomes a supernatural thriller , then conspiracy theory thriller then comes the shock ending revelation which in those days was almost unheard of . The producer and director have probably done the best job possible in making it appeal to a thinking audience but the majority of people aren't a thinking audience and you can just imagine on its original cinema release many female viewers watching the first five minutes thinking there's no way they're sitting through a war movie and walking out , with many of the opposite sex following them after twenty minutes thinking they're going to be watching a domestic drama while after forty minutes the remaining audience are thinking to themselves where the hell this movie is heading

I do confess to enjoying JACOB'S LADDER but only in some parts . The party scene is a classic sequence but there's a bit too many slow bits like Jacob's and Jezebel's domestic home life . I guess since Tim Robbins is a fairly well known actor ( And he plays nice guys like Jacob Singer very well ) these days and shock twist endings are in vogue again , not to mention conspiracy theories JACOB'S LADDER will probably be better regarded in 2004 than what it was in 1990 . It's good but it's not flawless

Seven out of Ten

Way out of Lyne

[gcd70 · 5/10 · 24 July 2007]

A confusing movie over all that desperately lacked an ending, and which found me leaving the cinema with only one word in my head to describe the experience: Weird!

"Jacob's Ladder" seems to be about hallucinations, or was it dealing with the fear of death, or was it the effects of drugs used on soldiers in the Vietnam War, or was it about.....? I don't really know. Did Adrian Lyne? Though Tim Robbins performance is quite admirable, and the film achieves scenes and moments of frightening inspiration, it is never consistent and never manages to settle on a theme. A sad waste of potential.

Sunday, July 7, 1991 - Greater Union Melbourne