Absolutely Fantastic

A different way of telling a story

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Don't get me wrong, this film was interesting, but Sean Penn's pacing is just soooooooo darn slow! And well, the ending is just plain depressing. Watch at your peril.

I found the acting to be very impressive. Multiple times I was blown away by the multiple amazing performances. I rate his movie low because it was such a poor ending and story. I thoroughly enjoy thoughtful, slow, and suspense movies. Not this one though.I couldn't help but think Jack himself was the killer at times or what. The ending made no sense I had to read other reviews just to figure out what the F happened.

'The Pledge' works largely because so much of it is playing with the expectations and prejudices of it's audience.Nicholson stars as a retiring cop who has one last case. Sound familiar? It feels like a police drama for a lot of it until the last act which I think would have made a far more interesting film had it been expanded into a full length story. Nicholson's character is obsessed with finding a serial killer who may or may not exist. He comes to the point where he seduces a bartender to use her little girl as bait to catch the killer. This is where the movie turns and becomes fresh. It's an understated performance and a sad character Nicholson brings to life. One gets the feeling the movie is as much about aging and find a way to stay relevant.It also has an outstanding supporting cast loaded with top notch character actors. Aaron Eckhardt, Sam Shepherd, Helen Mirren, Costas Mandylor, Mickey Rourke, Patricia Clarkson, Tom Noonan all turn in memorable scenes. My one gripe is that it is far too clean looking a movie. It has that same pristine look that a lot of the thrillers from the early 00's have. There's no atmosphere in the lighting or cinematography. The main thing is it's color palette is so bland. This could have been a great stylistic noir film in the hands of Fincher.Sean Penn and Nicholson know what the beats of this kind of film and they play them until they reach the brilliant final act. The result is something fresh and frightening. While discussing the film I heard it referred to as a "meta movie". That term is dead on. It makes the last act of the film so much more interesting when it doesn't go through the motions of the cop thriller at all. I remember thinking that "Oh what a nice change of pace to see Nicholson play this character with a moral code" and then you see how cavalierly he uses the little girl as bait and you come to despise him. Jerry didn't get the memo that he wasn't supposed to be the hero. It's a unique film. Nicholson is as always masterful. The beginning has some slow areas but it ends up being an alienating thriller that haunts the audience expecting a standard story of a hero cop getting his serial killer.

I've seen 'The pledge' a few times before, but after having seen the original 'Es geschah am hellichten tag' (1958) not too long ago, I thought I'd catch this one on the telly - in spite of commercials. It's now for the first time I found out who exactly the killer is, although it could be argued that this man (the husband of the candy store woman) is another red herring - I personally would think that to be a total stretch. But then, if he is the killer, why wouldn't Jerry (or anyone else) find out about this accident with a black car and that the dead man is quite tall, and he sold little hedgehog candy in his store? And why did Jerry drink and drive anyway (at beginning of the film)? It's probably an indication of his deteriorating state.Anyhoo, the film has lots of wonderful cinematography, a rather slow pacing and plenty of soothing, beautiful music. But somehow I don't feel that Jack Nicholson's talent was utilized enough, which must have had something to do with the direction, but also with that contrived development in the story, in which the friendship between Lori and Jerry suddenly becomes a relationship. It didn't feel plausible to me. Then, there were small supporting roles by quite a few unexpected familiar faces, such as Mickey Rourke, Harry Dean Stanton, Vanessa Redgrave and Helen Mirren, mostly just single scenes - how odd and how inane that all seemed, cameos like that in a film like this.But the film, as a whole, was certainly 'entertaining' enough, being a '90s thriller from the 21st century. And with its considerable length, it felt a bit like a miniseries, which was not a bad thing.For this attempt, I'm much more mild than for the 1958 version, since Lori gives Jerry hell eventually and the whole story has a better build-up. 7 out of 10.