R E V I E W S
The Pledge (2001)
Starring:
Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright Penn, Aaron Eckhart, Benicio Del
Toro Studio: Warner Bros. Review Posted: 1.25.01 Rating: 4/10
By Stephen.
"A promise intended to keep, but broken"
Jack Black (Jack Nicholson) is a police chief close to retiring. The murder of a 9-year old girl leaves him troubled. He makes a promise to the girl's parents to catch the killer. It's harder than he thought it would be. Why? Because there is all but none too evident evidence about the killer.
The Pledge started off pretty well. It had potential to become an interesting thriller. However, all it turned out to be was a big character study of a man who took his job too much to heart. While that is not bad at all, it just didn't fit in with the plot. Said, there wasn't really a plot. Jack Black's quest for the killer turned on him in a negative, emotional way.
The supporting characters never really get a chance to prove themselves and make an impression as it is all focused on Black and his promise. The entire time it takes the movie to reach the "supposed" climax, nothing remotely interesting happens. It's like a road movie in some ways. Jack Black left his fishing grounds and moved into a gas station he was able to buy ever so easily. He meets a waitress (Robin Wright Penn) at a nearby diner and the next thing we know is that they're living together.
The second half of the movie showed some promise when the Wizard man, the killer?, turned up. The waitresses' 9-year old daughter got chocolate from him and Black starts to act as the cop again that made him a pain in the police department.
I looked forward to this movie just because of the trailer. To me, it looked as if The Pledge had mystery and suspense, but I was fooled completely. The trailer made the movie look like something it was not. It created high expectations that turned into disappointments after the credits began.
Performances were solid, but lost to the non-existent plot. Direction was top, but it didn't convey something worthy of praise, as the movie kept to drag and showed us a lonely man with problems. The real downer of it was in the end. Black calls his team of cop friends to help him catch the killer, who is supposed to meet the waitress's 9-year old daughter in a park. The Wizard man didn't show up and Black looked like a fool to his friends.
The end had Black going insane because he could not keep his promise and find the killer. It was justified for the audience why we wasn't able to find him, but the character was left in the dark about it. Jack Nicholson tried hard to save the movie with a great performance, but could not overcome the problems of the movie.
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