The promise that became obsession (The Pledge (DVD))

Member Name: mmintfresh

Product:	The Pledge (DVD)
Date:	24/08/02 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Performances

Disadvantages: Pace

Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson)is on the verge of his retirement from the police force. He was a great cop but is now looking forward to kicking back and doing a bit of fishing. However on the night of his retirement party a murder is reported. A little blonde girl has been raped, her throat slit and then dumped in the snow. Jerry decides that he wants to spend the last of his six hours on the police force working so he gets his coat and leaves. What starts as just helping out with the case leads him to break the news to the parents of the little girl. Whilst there the distraught mother makes him promise to find the killer. Jerry does and decides to leave his fishing trip to Mexico and take on the case. He arrives back at the police station to find that they have got a man who they think killed the girl because he was seen leaving the crime. It is a retard Indian called Toby (Benicio Del Toro). He has raped someone before and eventually admits to killing the girl. Then whilst being taken to his cell he kills himself. Jerry believes that Toby was innocent and only admitted to the crime because he is incompetent and the when his colleague questioned him he became convinced he did it.

Jerry decides to continue the case and discovers that the dead girl used to go to the woods and hang out with a giant she called The Wizard. He is certain that the mysterious man is the killer and finds out that Ginny wasn't the only small blonde girl to be killed. Jerry buys a gas station inbetween two of the towns where the murders took place and decides that maybe he can trap the killer. Whilst waiting to find the killer he befriends the owner of a small bar, Lori (Robin Wright Penn) who has a little blonde daughter, a potential victim. To Jerry's surprise him and Lori fall in love and he starts to enjoy the domestic life and loves reading bed time stories to her daughter. However Jerry is still determined to keep to his pledge and seems like he will do almost anything to
catch the killer.

Initially this film looks like a crime thriller, it is also quite familiar territory, a cop following a case, even though he is retired and none else believes him. However I see it as more of a study into Jerry's character and how retirement affected him. It also is about one man trying to keep a promise with a little psychological thriller thrown in for good measure.

The film itself is very engrossing and this is because firstly the thriller part of the film is extremely well done and secondly because of the character of Jerry. The thriller section of the film is basically a serial killer who preys on little girls has chosen his next victim and only Jerry knows this and only Jerry can really stop it. This itself is intriguing, but also pretty textbook, but Sean Penn's directing gives it something more. Firstly we are given clues throughout the film and also given red herrings. So like Jerry we are trying to put the pieces together and find out who the killer is. Secondly the atmosphere created is tense and it feels like anything can happen. The fact that Jerry has chosen a gas station in the middle of nowhere, far from help and also that Jerry is an old man and may not be able to stop the killer is always in the back of your mind.

This is not the real reason to see the reason why this film is more than your average thriller is the character of Jerry. Jerry is a strange character, he at first seems like a good cop making a promise not because he is pleasing the parent but because he cares. This titular pledge, however eventually becomes obsession. At first he seems noble, refusing to accept the easy answer, spending his free time interviewing people, he then makes some strange moves, he buys a gas station out of his own pocket to create a trap (one of the most remarkable demonstrations of dedication) he then becomes very attached to Lori's kids, why does he truly care or is she his ticket to catch the kille
r? We never really know until the end. It is also interesting to see how retirement affects Jerry. He starts chain-smoking, hearing voices and his colleagues see him as a clown.

Jack Nicholson is fantastic in the role of Jerry Black and has one of the best roles he has had in years. The film allows him to show a wide range of emotions and also allows him to slowly turn from model policeman to an obsessive old man. Nicholson seems to put in an effortless performance and makes Jerry's transformation both poignant and chilling. He also has some excellent support from Wright Penn. There are also a lot of small parts played by big actors including Benicio Del Toro (Toby Wadenah), Vanessa Redgrave (Annalise Hansen), Harry Dean Stanton (Floyd Case), Helen Mirren (Psychologist), and Mickey Rourke (James Olstadt).

Penn's directing is very much focusing on Jerry's character and seems to move from sad scenario to another sad scenario. This sometimes makes the films pace drag a little and it is sometimes very uneventful. However he also creates an enthralling character study and wonderful atmosphere. The ending is both somewhat anti climatic (not a bad thing in this case) and also very suiting to the film. The film itself did the art house circle in Britain and it isn't hard to really see why.

This is a good film but a little slow in places, but it is worth watching because of Jerry and Nicholson's fantastic performance but isn't for everyone.

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