Review of The Pledge (2001) by Dawdlingpoet — 22 Nov 2021

This is a mystery drama film, featuring themes including painting, mutilation and paranoia. I found this to be an intriguing film, with some interesting characters. Its quite a difficult watch at times, with the initial presumed villain/criminal clearly having mental health issues, in terms of a presumed form of retardation (I mean that purely in a medical context) . I found myself feeling really quite concerned by how the authorities were treating things and I liked the main character of Jerry Black, the retired officer.

I thought the plot was quite good, a little slow but good. It kept me guessing what the final outcome might be, although the start makes the viewer think that things are relatively clear cut, suffice to say they aren't. I found myself imagining I was in Jerry's shoes, trying to guess who may or may not have had a part to play in the childs demise and why. It is, of course, inevitably, a sad story but I liked that the film wasn't overly reliant on action scenes and thus wasn't sensationalist or overly tacky Hollywood fare as such. When it comes to these sorts of serious crime stories, I like there to be a decent, well thought out plot behind it, to keep such films together.

Cast wise, Jerry Black is played by Jack Nicholson. I thought he gave a very respectable performance as recently retired police officer Jerry Black. He does well at seeming to look past younger officers, who see things in a different light and may be keen on chasing publicity via the media etc., wanting to make sure to get to the truth. You could say there are moral aspects at play, in any case I thought he did well in playing the character. Toby Jay Wadenah is played by Benicio Del Toro, while Aaron Eckhart plays Stan Krolak and Nels Lennarson plays Hank. The childs mother, Margaret Larsen, is played by Patricia Clarkson. Also, Helen Mirren appears, playing a doctor or moreso a therapist/psychologist (her character isn't given a name as such to quote).

Music wise, the film features various pieces, of which one sounded as if it were sung by the Native Americans. I looked it up online and apparently its called 'Nwalhulwana' by 'Orchestra Marrabenta Star de Mocambique'. Other pieces include Slowdown by Flywheel and The Other Side of Town by Steve Earle.

Content wise, the film contains sex references, some moderate violence and depictions of the victims body post mortem - some of the violence either talked about or visually depicted is quite bloody and gruesome, so this may well upset some people. Strong language also features, with the main character shown both drinking and smoking and the film inevitably features some distressing and potentially frightening scenes whereby we see people coming across things presumed linked to the death. It is a bit of a slow burn, plot wise but, to me, it had the feel of a decent, solid film. I thought it was quite intriguing with a good cast and so overall I thought it a good watch but it may not appeal to everyone, especially if your partial to a decent amount of action based scenes as this is much more of a slow burner type of film.

Yes I would recommend this, as I felt this was an interesting story (if perhaps a bit unoriginal in basic premise), with a good main character and a great cast. Its a bit of a long watch at around the 2 hour mark and it is quite slow, plot pace wise but it kept me guessing and with a good cast, I enjoyed it, so I'd recommend it on that basis.