It's been more than two weeks since I saw The Pledge, and yet I'm still disturbed by it. I still think about it, and I look forward to seeing it again, but not for entertainment value. The Pledge is not a film that I could say I liked or not. I respect the hell out of it, and it is a good film, in some cases great, but it has left me with a terrible taste in my mouth. At this time, I know one thing is for sure, Sean Penn's The Pledge is one of the darkest mainstream films I have ever seen.

The credits start off slowly. We see the snow covered land around us. The camera slowly zooms in to an ice-fishing shack. The thing that struck me in the very beginning of the film is how simple the footage was, but how utterly beautiful of a shot it is. The credits must run a good ten minutes, we see the area around us, horses running around the snow-covered basin and what not. I remember reading where the studio wanted Penn to cut many scenes from the film, but he wouldn't budge. I don't blame him. You can tell he's in love with this film, he's in love with the camera. This is his baby, and it's at his pace. That's the first rule to enjoying this film, come to terms with The Pledge's pace. I'm not going to lie, this is a very slow film. Those with Attention Deficit Disorder, should look elsewhere for entertainment.

From the commercials and the basic plot-line of this film, you'd think it was your run-of-the-mill serial killer film. In a way, it starts off like it is going to become that type of film. It's a very familiar premise. Jack Nicholson plays a cop who has made a promise, a promise he intends to keep.

Like I said, the film starts off with a familiar tone. Nicholson is about to retire and go fishing down in the islands. It's obvious from the get go, that he has no family and few friends. He is a lonely man, the job is the only thing he's got, and now he doesn't even have that anymore. The only thing he has to look forward to is cleaning fish.

Then the call comes in. A young girl has been brutally murdered and raped. The police find her poor mutilated body lying in the snow around some trees. A young boy witnessed an Indian fellow running away from the crime scene and hopping into his truck.

The Indian is played by the great Benico Del Toro (Traffic). He gives a performance which words can not describe. He only has a little screen time, but what screen time he has, he truly is brilliant. It could be the best performance of an actor playing a mentally retarded man out there. His performance alone, is worth owning this film on DVD. The scene with him in the interrogation room with cruel Aaron Eckhart (Erin Brockovich) is very disturbing. Now it takes a lot to disturb me. I'm the guy who thinks Hollow Man is wholesome family fun. What disturbs me, is a scene in which a cop uses sexual arousal on a retarded man to get a confession out of him.

Well everyone in the precinct is satisfied with Eckhart's results, but not Jack. He doesn't buy it. He does some more investigating, and comes to the conclusion that the killer is still out there, he goes by the name The Wizard, and he'll kill again. Jack intends to find the killer, at any cost. You see, he made a promise to the dead girl's mother. He put his hand on the cross, and swore that he would not rest until he found the killer. This is when The Pledge gets interesting.

Director Sean Penn and Jack Nicholson are not so interested in making a cat-in-mouse thriller about a cop & killer, as they are in making a character study on a man obsessed. I'm not going to go into the things he does to try and catch the killer. That would ruin the shock value for the viewer. The interesting thing about The Pledge is watching our protagonist cross the line in ethics, and seeing the repercussions of his actions.

Sean Penn's has gotten a cast that is to die for. Sam Shepard, Vanessa Redgrave, Mickey Rourke, and Helen Mirren all have small parts. The main parts that have an effect are Benico, Eckhart, Nicholson, and then there is Robin Wright Penn. She gives a sweet performance as a bar tending mother who's escaping from an abusive relationship. She goes all out, abandoning her good looks, for messy looking hair and a Tyler Durden like chipped tooth.

The mood that The Pledge casts reminds me of The Sweet Hereafter and Penn's The Crossing Guard. It's too bad Penn doesn't have quite the visual flair of Atom Egoyan. Although there is one scene in particular, that is sheer visual poetry. It's early in the film, where Nicholson goes to tell the little girl's parents that she is dead. He slowly walks into their barn where they are feeding turkeys. As he walks in, hundreds of birds scatter as he makes his way to them. The bird's little eyes seem to be eyeballing him. We don't hear exactly what he says, but the effect is haunting. As they hug each other and cry, Nicholson just stands there, his hands behind his back and his head down, with the birds all around them. It's a heart-breaking scene.

Jack Nicholson gives one of his most honest performances. You can't fully appreciate his performance until the ending, where you understand the final conclusion, that's when you will understand what Nicholson has created.

The Pledge is not a great film, and I don't think Penn intended it to be. It's not doing well in theaters, but that's all right. The Pledge is going to be one of those movies that you'll find on cable a few years down the road. It will be four in the morning, and you won't be able to sleep. You'll turn your TV on, and you'll start watching this Jack Nicholson movie. When it finally ends, you'll turn your TV off and you'll try to go back to sleep. You won't understand the mood that was created for you, until you are laying there pondering what kind of world we live in, where things like this really do happen.





Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older