:
Jack Nicholson,
Jack Nicholson,
Patricia Clarkson,
more...
:
Sean Penn,
Sean Penn
see all cast/crew...
: 
: Warner Home Video
: Cops
: 124 min.
: English, French
: English, French
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Sean Penn directed this tense drama of loyalty, honor, and obsession, based on a novel by Friedrich Durrenmatt. Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) is a veteran police detective who lives and works in a small Nevada town. On the day of his retirement, it falls to Jerry to handle an especially unpleasant assignment -- a seven-year-old girl has been brutally murdered, and Jerry has to check out the crime scene, and then tell the girl's parents the awful news. The girl's mother (Patricia Clarkson), understandably distraught, demands to know if the killer will be brought to justice, and Jerry promises her that he will personally see to it, "on my soul's salvation." A younger detective also on the case, Stan Krolak (Aaron Eckhart), thinks he's traced the crime to Toby Jay Wadeneh (Benicio Del Toro), a mentally retarded man who confesses to the murder shortly before killing himself. Stan considers the case closed, but Jerry can't shake his belief that Toby Jay wasn't actually the murderer, and Jerry begins to investigate the case on his own time, over the objections of his former boss, Eric Pollack (Sam Shepard), who reminds Jerry that he's no longer an official member of the police force. Before long, Jerry's personal investigation has taken over his life, and he uncovers evidence that suggests the girl's murder was just one in a series of killings involving young girls and a mysterious man called "the Wizard." When Jerry becomes close to a young single mother, Lori (Robin Wright-Penn), he feels he has reason to believe the murderer may be targeting her eight-year-old daughter, and finds himself using her as a decoy in order to bring the killer to justice. The Pledge marked Jack Nicholson's second starring role in a film directed by Sean Penn following 1995's The Crossing Guard; The Pledge's stellar supporting cast includes Vanessa Redgrave, Helen Mirren, Harry Dean Stanton, and Mickey Rourke. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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| philip k dick?
by rarcher
August 21, 2003 - 10:10 AM PDT
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i liked this film
has this sort of "you'll never know the truth" thing going
almost like if philip k had written a non-scifi mystery
i know del torro has gotten a lot of praise for his little part
well, maybe that's coming from people who've never hung out with real indians cuz i found him completely unconvincing |
| Jack Nicholson as Jack Nicholson.
by Emomovieluver
March 5, 2003 - 9:36 AM PST
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1 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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| For a movie that has so much going for it, "The Pledge" fails to live up to expectations ultimately leading to an completely unsatisfactory ending. The first and main fault to take note of is that this movie seems to be two storylines: that of an obsessed cop tracking a serial killer and then a retiree buying a broken down gas station and developing an unlikely family relationship. When the film comes full circle and goes back to becoming a cop movie, the movie falls flat on it's back with a totally lame ending where nothing at all climactic happens. Incredibly, much of it's glorious cast appear on-screen much too briefly with Del Torro virtually unrecognizable yet astounding in a brief yet pivotal role. As always, Jack Nicholson plays Jack Nicholson whether he be a retired cop, hotel caretaker, comic book villian or arrogant astronaut. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.44)
70 Votes
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