Rating: 
Summary: Harrowing Portrait of a Man's Descent to Insanity
Review: This film received relatively rave reviews from critics, and not without reason. Nicholson plays Det. Jerry Black with stark earnestness. From the beginning his movie seems like a conventional, yet well-directed cop story. Entertaining, but nothing spectacular. But as the film progresses, we see Nicholson's characther starting to become obsessed. He has everything he wants, a simple, happy existience. However, a promise to a parent leads him on a downward spiral to which he cannot recover. The film's ending is a startling one. Many viewers may feel disappointed, but that will be chiefly due to their narrow-mindedness. You'd think they'd never seen an independant film. Cheers to Sean Penn for avoiding the cliches. His gloomy, effective cinematogrophy, combined with fine performances by all makes this film worth seeing.
Rating: 
Summary: Nicholson superb in somewhat ambiguous film
Review: The first time we got a look at Sean Penn was twenty years ago in the outrageous hit comedy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He played a high school student whose main pursuits were surf boarding and pot smoking. His was one of the great breakthrough performances. Still, who would have thought he would become not only one of the world's premiere serious actors, but also a fine director? The Pledge is his latest directorial tour de force, and, like his previous efforts, it is heavy stuff. Some viewers will love it for the very reasons that others will hate it.Jerry Black [Jack Nicholson] is about to retire as a detective for the Reno, Nevada police department. He is looking forward to doing a lot of fishing. On his last day, the body of a brutally murdered little girl is discovered. The prime suspect is an Indian [Benicio Del Toro] with mental problems. During an interrogation, he confesses, but Jerry, who is watching the process on a closed circuit TV, thinks something is fishy about it. He doesn't believe the suspect has the capacity to know what he is confessing to. A little later, the Indian grabs a deputy's gun and kills himself. To the department, the case is now closed, but Jerry swore on his soul to the victim's mother that justice would prevail. He doesn't give up, even though he is now retired. During his investigation, he discovers two unsolved murders that are very similar to the first case. He pinpoints an area near which the killer may live. He actually moves to the area and even meets a woman [Robin Wright Penn] he falls in love with. He also becomes attached to her small daughter, but ultimately it his obsession with solving the crime that rules him. This is Nicholson's best role in some time, and he is supported by a remarkable cast. Some of these players have just one scene, but each of them still brings a power that the movie might not otherwise have had. After the first thirty minutes, The Pledge breaks from traditional formula. It turns out that Jerry may be simply confused by years of cynical police work, bad relationships and heavy drinking. He finds a suspect, but he is the only one who finds the man suspicious. To prove his theory, will he go to any lengths? Will he even put his lover's daughter in harm's way? Is he really committed to the victim's mother, or was he a cop so long that he doesn't know how to stop being one? The movie is full of such questions, as well as ambiguities, and this is much of what makes it different. The movie knows that in life there are few pat answers. It can be a long road from assumptions to the truth. The Pledge mirrors life more than most other movie do, and this is what will make some people love it and others hate it.
Rating: 
Summary: I think this movie was bad and boring!
Review: I'm not too sure why people gave this movie good reviews or any stars. I mean, I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything...I respect Jack Nicholson as an actor, but this movie was cut bad or something. Maybe it just went over my head! The movie seems to be leading up to something and...nothing, it ends! I don't write any reviews on here, this movie was just bad enough to make me do so.
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing
Review: I liked this movie up to the point that I realized that he was using the girlfriend's daughter as bait for a serial child murderer. After hearing about all the horrors that happen to children today, I didn't need this.
Rating:
Summary: someone has to say it
Review: this movie is total crud. I gave it 2 stars simply for the talented acting of Jack Nicholson. The story is weak and the ending, like another review I read, is VERY disapointing and lame. Don't bother to rent this or buy it. I'd rather watch "a few good men" again for the 100th time.
Rating: 
Summary: I couldn¿t believe it¿
Review: ...a stylish, neat, gritty-yet-elegant movie that doesn't cop out at the end. The story is intriguing, the characters are realistic (mundane?), and the twist, if you can call it that, works perfectly. It's shot beautifully, with all kinds of angles / close-ups / still shots / symbolic images, and the music is just right - melancholy yet oddly uplifting. But again, it's so good when a smart film like this doesn't slide into a zany, face-smashing, gun-slinging, death-defying, joke of an ending (e.g., the recent Training Day). I'm looking forward to watching it again.
Rating:
Summary: For The Discerning Viewer.
Review: One evening when I was sitting by the bar at The Grapevine, I chanced to overhear two folk sitting not far away discuss the merits of this film. Intrigued, but not wanting to jump in at the deep end so to speak, I tracked down Penn's two earlier films - "The Indian Runner" (his directional debut) and "The Crossing Guard" - from the local video store. Although they probably won't be remembered as titans of the celluloid medium, they did offer traces of authentic film-making constituents currently granting wide berths to the billion-dollar popcorn flicks that infest the multiplexes these days, i.e., a steady and deliberate directional hand, strong writing, and genuine thespianship. It was clear to me that Penn was determined to make his own films - ones that refused to traipse the Hollywood party line. That was enough for me. I guess it was fair to say that I expected to see "The Pledge" distinguish itself from its predecessor, "The Crossing Guard", by a certain degree of improvement, much as "The Crossing Guard" superseded "The Indian Runner". Well, a 'certain degree' turned out to be somewhat of an understatement: "The Pledge" is one of the best films I have seen - ever. Period. Game Over. I can't say that I felt this way as the last frames of the film rolled by. The film employs such an unorthodox ending, that momentarily you feel as though you've been duped. That is, until you consider the moxie needed for one to even consider attempting such an ending, and the skill required to pull it off. Browsing through some of the reviews in here, it's obvious to me that many punters didn't appreciate the finale; they felt betrayed, they wanted to leave their brains at the candy counter and ride the magic carpet to Sugar-Land, where the bad guys get blown up while driving flaming cars off absurdly high bridges, and the good guys get the gal, the cash, and the hip-hip-hoorays. I acknowledge this, but I cannot empathise. In fact, if you can't appreciate film-making such as this, then, alas, you are doomed to watch Sly 'n' Arnie films for the rest of your days. See it.
Rating:
Summary: HAUNTING AND INTELLIGENT!!!
Review: Vaguely reminiscent in tone to Paul Schrader's movie 'Affliction', The Pledge is Sean Penn's third outing as a Director. As with his previous work it is very much a study of human beings, their strengths their weaknesses and their flaws. Beautifully photographed, it is also morally ambiguous and ultimately downbeat portrayal of a good man obsessed with fulfilling a promise and unable to let go of the past in his attempt to give his life meaning. Opening with an unkempt Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) apparently rambling incoherently to himself, the rest of the movie is told in flashback, with Jerry returning from a fishing trip and about to start his last day as a police detective. However, when a young boy witnesses a retarded native American man (Beniccio Del Torro) fleeing in the snow and subsequently discovers the body of a young girl, who has been brutally raped and murdered, Jerry, despite his imminent retirement, promises the distraught parents that he will catch whomever is responsible. Later Jerry refuses to believe the murder is an open and shut case, carrying on his own investigation even when the officer in charge of the investigation (Aaron Eckhart) is only too keen to blame it on the now deceased Indian. Jack Nicholson (who previously collaborated with Sean Penn, on the also excellent Crossing Guard) delivers one of his finest performances, in his subtle portrayal of a good man trying to keep a promise but at a personal cost. And whilst this is far from the type of feel good movie such as 'As Good As It Gets' that won him his last Best Actor Oscar, this is in my opinion a far superior movie and a far superior performance, in that although this haunting movie will not send you to bed with your faith in the human spirit restored, it will make you think and stay with you for much longer than any of your typical Hollywood fare. Also excellent is the supporting cast, especially including a cast against type dowdy single mother, Robin Wright Penn, as well as Aaron Eckhart, Sam Shepard, Beniccio Del Torro, Helen Mirren and Tom Noonan. The Pledge is a disturbing film but it is beautifully filmed and for this praise must be directed toward Chris Menges (Local Hero) for his beautiful cinematography. Admittedly this is an uncommercial and slow paced movie which certainly wont be to everyone's taste and although some people will be critical of his at times somewhat ponderous style of directing, Sean Penn (dir. The Indian Runner and The Crossing Guard) subtly allows his actors to shine. Penn is as far as I'm concerned, one of America's finest character actors but he can surely now add to his resume the title of, one of America's great young film directors and I highly recommend this very intelligent movie (though clearly it will fly over many peoples heads).
Rating:
Summary: Jack Nicholson is at his best in The Pledge.
Review: The Pledge is one of Jack Nicholson's best films and this is high recommendation indeed for he is one of our finest film actors. Nicholson needs all his resources as an actor to show us the changes that take place in his character, a retired detective from Reno, Nevada who makes a promise to a mother to find the man who brutally murdered her young daughter. The eerie scene early in the film where Nicholson walks among hundreds of young turkeys in a large barn to tell the parents of the murdered girl of her death lets us know that director Sean Penn has something more in mind than a tradtional murder mystery. This film is first and foremost about the impossibility of protecting the innocent lives entrusted to our care. Do what we will, luck and good timing are often all that separate us from disaster. The events of September 11 are certainly a confirmation of that sad fact. The Reno police quickly find a suspect for the little girl's murder, a mentally retarded Indian played to perfection by Benicio Del Toro. They interrogate him, he confesses to the crime, and then he blows his brains out while being taken to a holding cell. Case closed, or so it would seem. Nicholson has watched the interrogation carefully and is not convinced that the real killer has been caught. Nicholson is retired and decides to do some investigaing himself. He starts by talking to a wide variety of people who may have something to contribute to the case. These brief interviews are gems because of the performances by Vanessa Redgrave, Helen Mirren, and Mickey Rourke. Convinced that the killer is still at large, Nicholson buys a gas station/convenience store in the general vicinity of the murder and begins his stakeout of the territory. He meets a waitress, beautifully played by Robin Wright Penn. The waitress has a daughter about the same age as the murder victim and Nicholson assumes a protective relationship over the pair. The scenes with Nicholson and the child are wonderful to see. He reads to her, goes shopping with her, and watches her every move. Nicholson now has an added reason for bringing the real killer to justice -- to safeguard the child he has come to love. Any detachment Nicholson might have had as a police officer is now gone. His protectiveness of the child becomes obsessive and the stress of trying to keep her safe unhinges him. Nicholson needs all his skills as an actor to show us a man going mad. He has done this before in the classic film, The Shining, and he is at least as effective in The Pledge. Viewers who are looking for the typical murder mystery are well advised to stay clear of this disturbing portrait of a misunderstood man pushed over the edge by his inablility to do what he thinks he should be able to do -- protect a young child in his care. Sean Penn shows us the abyss and how close we come to falling into it. Sometimes even good luck can't save us, as the viewer will learn at the end of this film. Nicholson does the right thing, but loses his family and his mind as his reward. As in a Thomas Hardy story, the viewer knows the part accidents play in the climax of this film, but the characters remain ignorant of the power of chance events to dramatically change their lives. This film is highly recommended for an adult audience.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking
Review: Not many movies have me thinking about them days after viewing. The Pledge did that for me. There are so many questions left unanswered, so many what if's... The significance of The Pledge may easily be lost while watching the story unfold. It's only at the end you are reminded again of what The Pledge means. Truly a great conversation starter.
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