Jacobs Ladder
Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam war veteran attempts to discover his past while his experiences prior to and during the war result in strange, fragmentary flashbacks and bizarre hallucinations that continue to haunt him.
1 October 1962, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, USA
30 December 1957, Schenectady, New York, USA
28 November 1949, Gary, Indiana, USA
12 May 1959, New York City, New York, USA
10 December 1928, Chicago, Illinois, USA
1 September 1955, Youngstown, Ohio, USA
28 September 1966, Los Angeles, California, USA
August 23, 2014
Jacob's Ladder is unique. Rarely is such an unconventional screenplay given this full-blown, $25 million studio treatment. It is a curiosity -- a mutant of a movie in an industry that specializes in clones.
August 23, 2014
Every story needs some kernel of internal logic, some hold on reality. But Lyne's film is like trying to scale a mountain of Jello. There's no solid ground. Everything is constantly shifting and undulating.
August 23, 2014
As long as the movie refuses to commit itself, it is a truly creepy, nerve-jangling experience.
August 23, 2014
Despite its frequently maddening lapses in logic and time frame, Jacob`s Ladder transcends most script ills to become a haunting and truly chilling thriller-melodrama.
August 23, 2014
Without a strongly sympathetic figure at the center of the movie, Jacob's plight seems very remote. Watching this film should feel like being caught in a nightmare, but it feels more like watching someone else who is caught in a nightmare.
August 23, 2014
For hours and days after you've seen it, you'll still be putting it together in your head. While all of it is gripping, it doesn't come together until the final scene, which is jolting, transcendent, unexpected yet inevitable.
August 23, 2014
[Robbins' and Pena's] scenes together are the highlight of the film, so natural, so bright. That's why we're willing to invest a lot of time in what turns out to be a terribly overwrought plot.
August 23, 2014
In the best puzzle movies, the pieces fit -- eventually. But if you try to piece together Jacob's Ladder, all you get for your trouble is more pieces.
August 23, 2014
One of Robbins' finest unheralded performances, plus a slew of supporting roles from then-unknowns Eriq LaSalle, Ving Rhames, Jason Alexander, Pruitt Taylor Vince, and an uncredited Macaulay Culkin.
August 23, 2014
Jacob's Ladder takes a long time getting to the point, and when it does, there isn't that much to it.
August 23, 2014
It's weird and surreal, but it ends with most of the holes plugged and all but a few of the loose ends tied into a tidy package. Some argue this is a cheat and the film should have been more open ended. That's a personal choice; I like it the way it is.
August 23, 2014
Just when it's on the brink of becoming one of the most disturbing, disorienting and penetrating psychological horror movies, Jacob's Ladder -- in a self-deflating few minutes -- turns itself into a shaggy-dog story.
