The Pledge (2001)

Jack Nicholson has been one of my favorite actors for many years now. With his performance in this movie he actually manages to take my respect up another notch. He's that good. This is a blessing for this film because in a lot of ways it would be completely lost without this excellent performance driving it.

He plays a retiring cop named Jerry Black. He's had a long distinguished career. His co-workers have thrown a huge party to send him off. In the middle of it, a call comes in that a young girl has been found brutally murdered. Despite only having six hours left before retirement, Jerry decides to take the call. This leads him to an encounter with the girl's parents where the mother forces a promise to find the killer from him. This is the first moment where things don't make a lot of sense. Why would he take a case hours before retiring? He can't possibly finish it. Why make this promise to the parents? He's a veteran detective and should know that not every killer is caught. As a result of these dubious moves we're left with a lot of doubt about what is to follow.

The police quickly nab a suspect played by Benicio Del Toro. This man is a Native American who doesn't have all (or even most) of his oars hitting the water. Bewildered by the interrogation by Jerry's replacement (Aaron Eckhardt) he confesses to the murder. Case closed. Or is it? Jerry isn't convinced and after his retirement he continues nosing around, discovering a string of similar murders suggesting a pattern, a pattern that rules out the now dead suspect. The police won't listen to Jerry, convinced that they already found the killer.

He settles into an awkward retirement, never quite letting go of the case. He buys a gas station and spends his days running it and fishing. He befriends a local woman (Robin Wright Penn) and eventually offers her and her daughter a place to stay when her ex-husband beats her. The girl is an exact match for the profile of the killer, leading to the suspicion that Jerry is using her as bait.

The entire story sits in the murder mystery/thriller genre squarely and yet refuses to play by the rules of that genre. Instead it works doggedly off the theory that things don't always tie up neatly. It constantly hints at things but rarely follows them to a clear conclusion, instead tossing out red herrings and twists to avoid a clear storyline. Doubt creeps in that Jerry really might be on a wild goose chase after all.

The story really isn't about the search for a killer but instead a man's uneasy shift into retirement. Jerry has a lot of trouble letting go of his old life. He tries hard, searching for ways to enjoy retirement. He finds unexpected satisfaction in family life but no matter how well things seem to go, he can't shake off his old life. There is a deeper quest here than one for a killer. Jerry is searching for peace and the investigation is just a physical manifestation of it. He forms an unholy obsession with it that makes him act in ways that simply can't be justified.

The ending of the movie is one that will either intrigue or madden. Keeping with the film's philosophy it doesn't tie up into a neat bow, instead reaching a rather unsettling finale. Nicholson brings an immense world weariness to the character, as if the whole world rests on his shoulders and he can't seem to figure out how to get it off.

There are just too many distractions in the movie though. Countless shots are thrown in for no reason other than to look pretty or be an all too obvious parallel to the action. Director Sean Penn has an obvious love for the material and a willingness to let his actors take risks and try new things. This is very much to his credit. Unfortunately he lacks a sense of pacing and narrative to really accentuate the fine performances. Do I really need to watch a never ending supply of shots of crows in flight? Do I really need the occasional false alarm that doesn't actually lead to the killer? It's just too much and it takes away from a story with an intriguing notion. I liked the way the movie ended a lot, I just wish I could have enjoyed the trip there a bit more.

- John Shea