By Marc S. Sanders
The Pledge is a moody and bleak crime drama that follows a retired detective’s descent into obsessive madness.
Director Sean Penn opens his film with the gruesome discovery of a murdered nine year old girl found amid the snow covered woods outside a small Nevada town. She happens to be discovered on the evening of veteran detective Jerry Black’s (Jack Nicholson) retirement party. Upon receiving word of the crime, Jerry leaves his celebration to explore the scene that is carelessly compromised by the local sheriffs. His protege partner Stan (Aaron Eckhart) rushes through a possible suspect’s (Benicio Del Toro) interrogation that draws a quick conclusion along with an unnecessary and bloody outcome.
Jerry surrenders his position with the police department, but he’s not entirely convinced the crime has been solved. He obligates himself to uphold a devout promise he gave to the victim’s parents (Patricia Clarkson, Michael O’Keefe) that he will catch their daughter’s killer.
Time passes and rather than retire into a quiet life of fishing, Jerry purchases an old gas station located within the vicinity of the crime scene as well as nearby where two other murders with similar circumstances occurred. Jerry is going to wait out the next attempt committed by “The Wizard” or “The Racoon Killer,” and catch him in the act.
The Pledge is a brooding and lonely film. Sean Penn’s piece offers an impressive list of who’s who actors that appear in small roles to shape out the detective’s progress. Amidst all of these familiar names in the cast, Jack Nicholson has never appeared so isolated or despondent before. His character is limited on dialogue. A thin mustache and a wrinkled complexion with a smoking habit hide any humor or joy. Jerry Black knows he’s the last capable police detective in this area. It pains him to abandon his post to the halfwits he leaves behind.
A promise is a dangerous gesture. If you adhere to it, all obstacles become nonexistent. Anything will be done to uphold a pledge and conclude your wild theories, even if proof is not conveniently supplemented. Nothing stands in the way of pledge.
The second half of The Pledge moves at a slower pace when Jerry welcomes an abused mother (Robin Wright Penn) and her daughter into his home. A new life seems destined for these three people but at what cost? Is the hero of this film at least as dangerous as the psychopath that supposedly remains at large?
Would you go to the great lengths that Jerry puts himself through? Is the expense of his own sanity, and the safety of an innocent woman and her daughter worth this pursuit?
Sean Penn’s film does not operate on suspense. What action there is only fuels Jerry’s chase at a long-shot truth. It’s a slow burn crime drama that makes the central murder a far second priority to how the initial discovery overtakes the main character. Again, this kind of mania is a different breed from Jack Nicholson’s other crazed portrayals found in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Five Easy Pieces, or The Shining. Nicholson is not as vocal or expressive in this role. Yet, we all know what drives this guy with what few words he uses.
Robin Wright Penn and Nicholson share some effective scenes together. Their motive to be with one another stems from a misery loves company ideal. Good casting here, and throughout the film with small appearances from Helen Mirren, Harry Dean Stanton, Sam Shepard, Vanessa Redgrave, Mickey Rourke, Tom Noonan, Clarkson, O’Keefe, Del Toro and Eckhart.
Sean Penn is very good at creating visual moods to his film. The image of Nicholson standing within the pen of a crowded turkey farm with the anguished parents of the victim is truly haunting. Animals of all kinds seem to emote a cold harshness as well. The first image to appear consists of a swarm of large, winged birds soaring above this backwoods area where the biggest thing to happen is a town parade. Otherwise, as one girl tells Jerry there’s nothing else to do here. This remote Nevada area is unprotected from greater powers, and its only guardian is forced to accept retirement, leaving his community vulnerable. This formerly decorated Marine is now a formerly decorated cop, and the unseen animals-or monsters-still roam.
I won’t spoil the ending which I commend, but there is one moment that Sean Penn includes in the final cut that is objectionable. For the first time in the picture since Jerry Black accepted the case, one moment near the end of the movie tells the audience everything they need to know while leaving Jerry in the dark. I think it was a poor choice to go this way. The audience is going along with Jerry’s pursuit until they are spoon fed a resolution they didn’t earn because Jerry never arrives at this conclusion. A better route would be to leave the audience in the same dizzying haze that Jerry must live with. Some hanging threads should be left untied. The Pledge is a pot boiling, well-made and disturbing film, but with minutes to go before the end credits roll, a less is more approach should have been adopted.
2 UNPAID MOVIE CRITICS!!!! 