Rating: 
Summary: not for dolts
Review: Anyone expecting to find a formulaic cops-chase-killers movie should immediately move on to the latest Hollywood idiot fodder flick. "The Pledge" is intelligent, thought-provoking, well-directed, well-acted, and a feast for the senses.
I know many people who felt let down by this film, possibly because they expected the usual chase and hero's triumph at the end, which does not happen here. I found myself to be curious and somehow astonished by the end, and anxious to see it again.
Jack Nicholson gives one of his best latter-day performances here, and touches on areas which are not normally "Jack". By the end of the film, he is stunned and totally confused; knowing he was somehow right, though strange twists of fate conspire against him. It's almost Hitchcock territory; the man wrongly accused, or the man who knows all the facts, and yet no one believes him.
Sean Penn is no clown director; he's not making mass-market cheap thrill flicks here. He lets the story develop with a total absence of Hollywood cliches and setups. By the end, though most people will feel somehow cheated out of a visceral release, I feel viewers with an open mind who don't expect their movies to be served up like fast-food will be quite pleased. It's one of those movies you can talk about all night long.
Rating: 
Summary: Penn's Best Directing Work & Nicholson In Top Acting Form
Review: This time out as a director Sean Penn did not also do the writing. He used a first rate novel, written by the late Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and adapted by first rate screenwriters Jerzy Kromolowski and Mary Olson-Kromolowski. It shows. The writing is complex and finely nuanced, taking no predictible Hollywood plot or character turns. The film is also highly artistic. Actors must love to work for Penn because he obtained the very best for even single scene roles. As retiring police detective Jerry Black, Nicholson is pulled into one last case and pledges to a grieving mother that he will find her daughter's killer. This sets him off on a long, obsessive course of action to trap this killer. He has an incredible amount of patience in setting his lure, much like his favorite avocation, fishing, requires of its followers. This also sets in motion his using and manipulating other people, particularly a single mother and her daughter, which heightens the tension considerably. Robin Wright Penn does her usual first class acting job as that single mother. Perhaps the most startling performance in the whole film is Benicio del Toro as a mentally handicapped Indian the police believe is the killer. Del Toro may have quite an acting future ahead if this performance is any indication of the range of his ability. He even outdoes his "Traffic" performance. I read that this film was a sensation when it screened at the Cannes Film Festival and I can certainly see why that experienced audience was so impressed. Nicholson's closing moments of acting in the film are amongst the finest in his long acting career.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Film, But...
Review: 'The Pledge' is not a typical murder mystery or a typical Jack Nicholson movie. Nicholson plays a Reno, Nevada cop named Black who decides to get involved in one last case literally during the middle of his retirement party. Making a promise to find a little girl's murderer, Black begins a journey that leads him down a dark road of desperation and obsession. I can't remember seeing Nicholson play a character that was this uncertain since 'The King of Marvin Gardens.' The only thing about Black that is certain is his obsession to find the "giant" who is killing little girls. Nicholson's carefully controlled performance is, as usual, first-rate. The inner conflict between seeking justice and placing a family at risk is played very well by Nicholson and director Penn. The supporting cast is generally good, but too much talent is wasted. Vanessa Redgrave appears in only one brief scene...Harry Dean Stanton does nothing beyond selling his gas station...Benicio Del Toro is gripping while on-screen, but he's not on for long. Yet, the short screen-time by the supporting cast is probably not what bothers most viewers...it's the conclusion. Without giving away the ending, I can say two things:
1 - It works, in its own way
2 - It didn't leave me satisfied I understand the ending, and I can see how the events of the film progress to it, but I was disappointed. Penn sets up the film well, but everything leading up to the ending leads the audience to believe that their expectations are going to be met. They aren't, or at least they weren't for me. Again, I understand and appreciate the ending, it just wasn't what Penn prepared us for. In the film's favor, I was glad that this was not a strict formula picture. There's a lot to consider when the film is playing and there's a lot to think about after it's over. For that aspect alone, 'The Pledge' is worth viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful study of a disintegrating man
Review: Jack Nicholson plays Jerry Black, a retiring detective who, perhaps foolishly, solemnly vows to find the killer of a murdered child. He sacrifices his retirement and the respect of his peers to keeping this pledge, and as we follow him in his quest the story becomes less about solving a mystery and more about the degenerative effects of obsession - in particular, how the desire to do good can drive us to destructive, immoral ends. Penn has assembled an impressive cast for this film, which is easily the best of the three he's directed. The calibre of the ensemble is at moments distracting, but there's no doubting the skill they bring to their roles, e.g. Nicholson's scene with Helen Mirren as a psychiatrist is exceptionally written and performed. This film isn't for everyone. Those looking for an exciting cop-thriller or a tale of redemption should look elsewhere. This is a slow-burning psychological drama which, though suspenseful at times, unfolds with a tragic inevitability essential to its theme. Penn is developing into a great director. His preference for foregrounding performance, which threatened to undo his early films, is more controlled here and is aided by an economical screenplay. Just as in his acting career, he continues to go from strength to strength.
Rating:
Summary: Almost Very Good
Review: The Pledge, directed by Sean Penn, is very well filmed and acted. Unlike most Hollywood movies, it doesn't talk down to the audience but instead is challenging and full of depth. On the negative side, however, the main character's actions don't really make sense and by the end of the film there's no sense of "Ah, now I get it," or "Well, I don't understand but at least it's thought-provoking.." Instead, you're left with a sort of "Huh?" feeling at the end, not unlike opening up a nicely wrapped gift and finding it empty inside.
SPOILER - The main plot is that Jack Nicholson is a cop who is only hours away from retiring when he gets pulled into a horrific case, in which a young girl has been sexually abused, tortured, and murdered. Jack promises the girl's parents that he will find the killer and so, even though he's supposed to be retired now, Jack becomes obsessed with the case.
So far, so good.
Where the movie begins to lose me is that Jack then meets a single mother with a daughter and he invites them to come live with them. Time passes. Lots of time. Lots and lots of time. He loves them both, so what does he do? He uses the daughter as bait to catch the killer.
And that's where the film begins to lose me. I just didn't buy it. I know he made a promise to the parents of the dead girl and all of that, but I just couldn't buy that he would repeatedly, deliberately, set up his own 8-year-old step-daughter (of sorts) to be abducted. Additionally, by the end Jack is suddenly completely insane, babbling to himself for no reason. The transformation is far too abrupt to be believable, though.
All in all, this is a bleak, dark movie, well acted by Nicholson but ultimately not very satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: not for dolts
Review: Anyone expecting to find a formulaic cops-chase-killers movie should immediately move on to the latest Hollywood idiot fodder flick. "The Pledge" is intelligent, thought-provoking, well-directed, well-acted, and a feast for the senses.
I know many people who felt let down by this film, possibly because they expected the usual chase and hero's triumph at the end, which does not happen here. I found myself to be curious and somehow astonished by the end, and anxious to see it again.
Jack Nicholson gives one of his best latter-day performances here, and touches on areas which are not normally "Jack". By the end of the film, he is stunned and totally confused; knowing he was somehow right, though strange twists of fate conspire against him. It's almost Hitchcock territory; the man wrongly accused, or the man who knows all the facts, and yet no one believes him.
Sean Penn is no clown director; he's not making mass-market cheap thrill flicks here. He lets the story develop with a total absence of Hollywood cliches and setups. By the end, though most people will feel somehow cheated out of a visceral release, I feel viewers with an open mind who don't expect their movies to be served up like fast-food will be quite pleased. It's one of those movies you can talk about all night long.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Thoughtful.......
Review: First, let me say that I consider Jack Nicholson to be one of most underrated actors of his generation. His performance in "The Pledge" is nothing short of remarkable, not so much in the way his speaks the dialogue, but in those moments when he has none, and reveals the mind of a deeply tormented man. Other reviews have discussed the plot, so I'll dispense with that, other than to say that this is a movie about redemption and a lost cause. The pledge referred to in the title is one that Nicholson cannot assuredly keep, and thus forfeits his "soul's salvation". The Nicholson character is basically a lonely, desperate man, who hangs his hopes on catching a serial killer, and by a twist of fate, fails in his mission. The supporting cast is excellent, Benecio Del Toro, Robin Wright Penn and even Vanessa Redgrave (one of the best performances in the film, although a brief one-scene cameo). Sean Penn's direction is superb, with the intercutting of nature scenes with the main plot (watch for the symbolic flock of birds throughout the film). This is not a film for those who desire neat, tied-up endings but ones which mirror the real and unresolved tragedies of life. Truly a haunting and poignant story, with excellent character studies all around.
Rating:
Summary: Creepy
Review: Jack Nicholson gives a very even keeled performance, restraining his natural essence to give a somewhat schizod personality to his character. Sean Penn lets the story unfold artistically, not giving away to much so we are surprised at what happens next. It is not a happy upbeat film and seems to be mainly a character study of a retired police cop, who really has not ever had a intimate relationship with anyone and hasn't gotten close enough to make friends with anybody in his force. They know him and respect him, yet there isn't that really cool camaraderie which goes with being really important to someone. The theme revolves around child sexual abuse and homicide, not a pretty picture. Jerry, Nicholson, becomes obsessed with the case and makes a pledge to the mother that he will find the killer. Intuitively, he knows that the wrong person got nabbed. A virtuoso performance by Del Toro and Eckerson. A real creepy confession, another artful turn by the director to take us off the beaten path. Jerry pledges to find the truth out and things seem to be going good, until a turn of fate, causing the cookie to crumble, a matter of speaking, I don' want to divulge to much, the cookie is Jerry. I really liked the film and recommend it. (...)
Rating:
Summary: LET'S FACE IT!!!
Review: Most of the reviewers of this film have hit the nail on the head. The script simply is not believable. Everything else is there: the usual impeccable performance by Jack Nicholson, the supporting cast up to par, and Penn grows as a director, perhaps not quite relaxed or self-confident enough to let things flow once in a while, instead of holding such tight reins over each moment of the film. One assumes he will eventually become one of our country's great directors. OK. As the film moves forward, it becomes more and more unbelievable. And at its end, the viewer cannot be sure whether the main character has gone insane or is simply very, very drunk. This great drunkenness, by the way, has never before been revealed in the film. Nicholson's character has been sober throughout. We are informed of this problem by another character near the film's ending. While truth stretches truth, one only hopes that these wonderful performers will better themselves with more honest, quality scripts in future. The movie is worth it for the performances, I suppose. But five thumbs down on the story!
Rating:
Summary: An uncomfortable movie
Review: This is an unsatisfying, uncomfortable movie. Without giving away the plot, it involves a retired police officer who has made a promise to find a child-murderer. But the child in question was killed on his last day of work. And a would-be murderer confesses, then kills him self. But when Jerry Black retires, he still plans to find the killer. Using fishing as a metaphor, he sets bait for the killer. This is when the movie becomes uncomfortable. Perhaps it's simply the way Black goes about this, but his "good deed" of keeping his promise is annuled by the way in which he goes about it. In addition, the ending is far too vague, though it's almost worth watching the movie just for the last shot seeing Jack Nicholoson shaking his fist, drunk, mumbling to himself. Vintage Nicholson.
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