Customer Reviews
A largely unrecognized masterpiece - By: Lou Knee, 08 Apr 2008 
It's slowly picking up more fame with the passing of time, this film, it seems, but its release passed me by & I, like many others was recommended this by a video guide. It was one of the best rentals I've ever had, & at this price this film is a must if you like good thrillers, good cinematic films, & of course good acting. I was just a little wary about Penn directing, as the only other Penn made movie I know I'd seen before this was a little heavy & demanding. He does actuallly have quite a heavy or obtrusive directing style, & reminds me a lot of Boorman in many ways, but in this picture definitely, he portrays deft touches as well as the great cinematic presence & style.
Then we get on to casting. Sometimes these days, Nicholson turns up to act, & sometimes he turns up just to take the money AND add money to the picture by being Jack. But when he takes on a role for professional reasons & reallly respects the script & loves the character, he acts...REALLY acts. This performance should have got him yet another oscar nomination at the very least. There are just so few actors who have the ability to portray such painfully human characters like this actor. He is a never ending sensation.
Nicholsons' best performance? - By: inkster, 23 Jan 2008 ...I'll say it again-To me, this is the first time, Jack Nicholson did more than just entertain.
About Schmidt, to me, was in a similar league & when he flew over the cuckoo's nest, I felt pretty much the same, but this time I feel there is even more depth to his character.
I was quite surprised when I saw this film for the first time.
The photography is rather well, & I would say the same about the casting & direction.
The soundtrack music is just right in that it underpins he conflict ,undergone by the main protagonist.
Whilst I recommend this film to anyone who'll listen to me, I also point them towards the german original "Es geschah am hellichten Tag ( 1958)".
I n this remake however, the ending was realized as intended by the author whereas the german version's ending was reputedly changed to make it a little more paletable.
One of the best films I've seen - By: Michael D. Mitchell, 31 May 2007 I've never written a film review before. Always been afraid of saying something that would give the game away for those who haven't seen the film yet, but may want to. This film showed Jack Nicholson in alll his brilliance - quite my favourite actor - but after the film had ended, indeed, as some have suggested, rather abruptly, I pondered over alll the threads for ages. The doctor, & her insistent question to Jerry, whether he was still sexuallly active. You can tell what SHE was thinking! And Jerry's failure to answer spoke volumes, as if he didn't want to face up to his darkest thoughts.
Of course, one has to suspend belief somewhat, well, quite a lot, when watching the film as it nears the end. I do not believe any police department would alllow a little girl to be placed in so much potential danger as was depicted. Also, I don't believe that any ex-cop would just be able to assert his influence & practicallly take control of proceedings like Jerry seemed to be able to do with impunity. Another theme was just how far will the police go - in this case, using a little child as bait in a trap - to "get their man"?
The ending was amazing. The pledge was fulfilled, as far as the parents of the first child knew. The cops were convinced right up to the final scenes that Jerry had become a nutcase & they had already got their man. The character, Toby, shot himself obviously for some other crime the police didn't know about & didn't investigate, & the young mother who befriended Jerry would continue the rest of her life in the certain knowledge that he was a rogue & a pervert. Maybe only Harry Dean Stanton & daughter were glad to get shot of the place. They were well out of it!
A "so-so" film. - By: Inmi Opinion, 25 Jan 2007 
I am NOT a Jack Nicholson fan! There, that's got that out of the way. Having said that I thought he was outstanding in "A Few Good Men", the only other film I've watched him in & he played a very good part in this as a sympathetic detective - against his normal typecast - who "pledges" to the mother of a child victim to find the killer, even though he is on his last day in the service? Robin Wright Penn plays the love interest & Nicholson becomes her daughters stand-in father & at one time it seems as if everything is going to end happy ever after but..... Sean Penn is becoming a very accomplished director & has now succeeded in leaving the shadow of Madonna - apart from which he is more talented than her!The real problem for me is that the storyline makes the pace of the film flat, there are NO real edge of your seat moments & that's what let it down for me.
Fantastic if disturbing flick from Sean Penn - By: , 10 Jan 2005 
By no means a hit (costing around $45m & recouping only $20m in the USA), The Pledge shows how accomplished Penn is becoming as a director & the fantastic range Jack Nicholson still offers. After the almost unrelentlessly bleak Indian Runner, Penn continued in similar vein with the Crossing Guard, & The Pledge is certainly an apt companion piece for these two films.
The only problem I had with the film was the slightly abrupt ending & Nicholson's rather extreme mental swings at that point. The devastating end sequence works particularly well though.
Definitely worth watching, a peak for Penn as a director, but you still feel there is a lot more to come.
SPOILER
It should be clear who the killer is but, without giving it totallly away, the key scene at the end is the odd shop woman Nicholson encounters when going to speak to Vanessa Redgrace, shouting for her son. Essentiallly, Nicholson's character's desolate end comes although he has been right alll along.
