Review of The Pledge (2001) by Jeremy P — 26 Jun 2007

The Pledge succeeds almost entirely because of Nicholson. The character of Jerry Black is extremely comlex, and only one of the legends of acting could have achieved its potential. Needless to say, a viewing is in order to see Nicholson in another great performance.

As far as entertainment value goes, there isn't much material here to generate appeal. Unlike the majority of cop films, The Pledge has very little action, and instead focuses its attention towards the Jerry Black character. It's a nearly straight character study that is more fascinating that action-filled.

Penn's direction doesn't stand out in any areas, as it's obvious that any director could have assembled the same finished product without the wasted budget. I mean "wasted" because nearly 20 million was spent on the supporting cast who were relatively worthless to the plot at hand. Nicholson was enough, but Penn decided to use his extra grant money to gain a more broader audience. In this sense, he's very ignorant and wasteful with the budget he was given.

Although I really like this film, the main issue I had in particular would be the somewhat unclear ending. The Black character is bordering on insanity, but it's left up to viewers to decide if the cop accepted his retirement, or was the actual pedophile himself. It leaves room for pondering the overall outcome, but the unclear ending is more frustrating than mysterious.

It's definetely worth the watch, but it sure does have its many faults. However, Nicholson is as strong as ever, and that should be enough.