★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Intensity 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Adrian Lyne
Tim Robbins gives an excellent performance as a paranoid, psychologically fractured Vietnam War veteran plagued by nightmares in Adrian Lyne’s eerie Jacob’s Ladder, beautifully restored in 4K for a theatrical run.
Official synopsis
Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins), a Vietnam War veteran plagued with troubling hallucinations and traumatic flashbacks, struggles to maintain his sanity as his terrible past invades his waking life. As girlfriend Jezzie (Elizabeth Peña) and chiropractor friend Louis (Danny Aiello) try to help him find balance, Jacob only descends further into madness and despair.
Review
Director Adrian Lyne’s psychological thriller/horror feature Jacob’s Ladder doesn’t skimp on the style — as might be expected from the person who also helmed Fatal Attraction and Flashdance — but it also boasts plenty to chew on, from its considerations of metaphysics and religion to its commentary regarding the treatment of Vietnam soldiers and veterans to who and what are “real” and “not real” in its unspooling.
Tim Robbins is fantastic as emotionally and psychologically scarred PhD, vet, and postal worker Jacob. His journey from the battlefield and beyond is at turns heart-wrenching, chilling, and surreal. The rest of the cast is top notch, too, including Elizabeth Peña as his girlfriend Jezzie and Danny Aiello as his angelic chiropractor Louis.
Scenes are nonlinear and disjointed. Jacob’s Ladder is the type of film that viewers just need to go along with for the ride, and consider what is going down as the film goes on. I don’t want to go into spoiler territory because even though it was first released 35 years ago, there are viewers like me who are seeing it for the first time on its 4k restoration run — and the restoration work is fantastic.
The ending is, in my opinion, telegraphed quite early on. Suffice it to say that Jacob’s Ladder has parallels with a classic short story that was made into an equally classic short film that aired as an episode of the original The Twilight Zone series. It was an update of that idea for a 1990 audience, and it holds up well today with its paranoid conspiracy thriller elements. Finely directed and wonderfully acted, and with a superb new presentation, Jacob’s Ladder is a thought-provoking slice of genre film fare.
Rialto Pictures presents a brand new 4K restoration of Jacob’s Ladder, which had its World Premiere at the American Cinematheque’s Beyond Fest in Los Angeles on September 28, 2025, and will open at the IFC Center in New York City on Friday, October 3, with a national rollout to follow.
Photos courtesy: Rialto Pictures/Studiocanal
Review by Joseph Perry
