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Overall Rating
  Awesome: 18.42%
Worth A Look: 26.32%
Average: 26.32%
Pretty Bad: 17.11%
Total Crap: 11.84%
5 reviews, 46 user ratings
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| Pledge, The |
by iF Magazine
"Somewhat involving; mainly pretentious."
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Remember how all those buddy cop action movies like LETHAL WEAPON that had the seasoned, grizzled cop on the verge of retirement and a case comes up that pulls them right back in. Well, Jack Nicholson's latest film THE PLEDGE is exactly like that - but this time it's the serious version.The problem is that formula is so worn into the ground, you can't help but draw comparisons (in a totally bad way). Obviously the big difference is director Sean Penn goes for a somber, pretentious tone throughout trying to elevate the standard material into something more artistic, but the end result is a mixed bag despite fine performances by all the actors involved including Nicholson and Robin Wright Penn.
Nicholson is Detective Jerry Black, who six hours away from retirement gets intrigued by the murder of a small girl. Upon breaking the news to the parents of the slain girl, the mother makes Black promise he'll find the killer (that's the "pledge" of the title). When it looks like they might have their man (a really over-the-top Benicio Del Toro playing a handicapped Indian), they lose their suspect when he shoots himself in the police precinct. Black doesn't believe that he was indeed the killer and does some investigating and finds out other girls that fit the same m.o. were killed in a similar fashion in the outlying areas.
Black seems to have just about given up on his "pledge," but he's still playing cop when he singles out a neighboring town which could be the killer's next target. He buys a gas station and waits for the suspects to pile up. Instead, Black befriends a woman (Wright-Penn) and her small girl who he protects with dear life. It's unclear if he's setting the little girl up or he actually cares about her, but it seems like the three are a perfect fit - until of course Black starts to border on madness when his obsession starts getting the better of him again.
There's a lot of fine performances sprinkled throughout the film. The forgettable story is secondary to the endless parade of one-scene cameos by Mickey Rourke, Aaron Eckhart, Tom Noonan, Sam Shepard and Harry Dean Stanton. Each one gets a stand out scene or moment that probably attracted them to the film in the first place, but these little character bits don't make up a cohesive movie.
To Penn's credit he builds a considerable amount of tension and suspense as to whether or not this killer is still out there. He also uses the small girl Black is protecting for ample suspense too, though at times it feels a bit cheap and sleazy in the way he manipulates the audience by putting this little girl in jeopardy. The film also has such a downer of an ending that people expecting something much more hard-hitting and traditional will be severely disappointed. It doesn't help that the trailer sells this film as action packed when that couldn't be further from the truth.
Nicholson is in fine form. It's always nice to see him pull in a dramatic performance. Comedy is second nature to him, but his dramatic roles are truly a marvel to watch and that's no different here. If anything, Nicholson makes this rather average film much more fascinating to watch. Wright Penn dirties herself up for her role as well and holds her own against formidable Jack.Still THE PLEDGE (which is also saddled with one of the worst titles so far this year) falls short the entire way. It's too slow to be a hard-hitting thriller and its attempt at irony and social commentary is lost amongst the run-of-the-mill screenplay. Penn might be a fine director but in dealing with material like this (and THE CROSSING GUARD) he seems to always be trying to prove that he is an "important filmmaker" tackling powerful issues when in reality all he proves is how "self-important" a filmmaker he truly is.-- Carl Cortez
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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=4785&reviewer=119
originally posted: 02/22/01 17:04:05
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USA
19-Jan-2001 (R)
UK
N/A
Australia
09-Aug-2001 (R)
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