Critics Scoreboard
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...
Average Critic Score:
62
(20 sources)
62
(20 sources)
-
91
Christian Science Monitor
Tim Robbins gives a strong performance in this first-class horror yarn, which has a surprisingly strong political edge. Read Full Review » -
91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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] Read Full Review » -
90
The New York Times
The ending of Jacob's Ladder, when it finally arrives, is, like much of the film, both quaint and devastating. Read Full Review » -
88
Chicago Sun-Times
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 » -
88
ReelViews
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 » -
88
TV Guide
Truly frightening and visually unique, this messy, challenging film is anchored by Tim Robbins' remarkable performance. Read Full Review » -
80
Chicago Reader
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 » -
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
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] Read Full Review » -
75
Chicago Tribune
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] Read Full Review » -
63
USA Today
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] Read Full Review » -
60
Empire
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. Read Full Review » -
60
Washington Post
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. Read Full Review » -
50
Wall Street Journal
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] Read Full Review » -
50
Boston Globe
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] Read Full Review » -
50
San Francisco Chronicle
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] Read Full Review » -
42
Entertainment Weekly
The movie, a piece of luridly baroque metaphysical trash, is about a Vietnam veteran who keeps getting jolted by demonic visions. Read Full Review » -
40
Los Angeles Times
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] Read Full Review » -
30
Time
Director Adrian Lyne has encapsulated the cliches of three decades in a single dreadful and hysterical movie. Read Full Review » -
30
Washington Post
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. Read Full Review » -
30
Variety
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. Read Full Review »
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