The Pledge

Great film! Interesting and particular, very good ending!

This film is on Ebert's all-time best list but I had a hard time finding it in HD. The film is about a cop who covers a very troubling crime during the last day of his career. He can't let the crime go and he begins to investigate it on his own time. He becomes a bit obsessed with the case and then realizes that it might be bigger than it is.

I won't say too much more about the film as it goes in a very interesting direction. It reminded me a lot of
[spoiler]
The Conversation
[/spoiler]
(if you haven't seen that film you should as it is one of the best movies that I've ever seen).

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I think that this movie is pretty good especially because of the ending. I thought it would be generic but the ending was different from most movies. Little bit more action and character development and movie would be great. Overall in my opinnion a good mustery/thriller. 7/10

>" I made a promise, Eric. You're old enough to remember when that meant something..."

I am impressed, Sean Penn. Serial killers are always something that intrigue me, but not every movie does a good job with it. The Pledge changed it up a bit where the focus is more on a retiree learning how to deal with getting old. Jack Nicholson continues to show why he is so good in films.

Although directed by Sean Penn, Starring Jack Nicholson and based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt's book, the pledge just does not quiet deliver. Perhaps a little more action or intrigues would have helped...

Watching the opening credits, I was really impressed by all those well-known names popping up, because I had no idea this movie even existed.. and now I know it's because it isn't that good. _Especially_ compared to the book of the same name by **Friedrich Dürrenmatt**.
Beside the mystery of how they managed to stretch out a 150 page book into a movie that is over 2 hours long (and leaving out the best scene in the book), it also suffered from the modernization and Americanisation.

**Everything that made the book intriguing for me is lost in the movie:**
- The inspector's character study.
- The professional friendship and mutual respect between the police chief and the inspector. The police chief starts to worry about his former inspector, which adds another layer to the inspector's undoing.
- The commentary on police work, vigilantism and crime fiction.

**Additionally some of the changes really irritated me:**
- The mentally disabled Native American (**Benicio del Toro**) as the suspect.
- The fact that he shoots himself, but I guess that's a must in an American adaptation.. in the book he silently hangs himself in his cell, after his forced confession.
- Was that DNA taken from the girl's body ever tested? Or compared to the suspect? Why did they purposely bring it up at the crime scene but never spoke of it again?
- The romantic entanglement between Jerry Black (**Jack Nicholson**) and Lori (**Robin Wright**). Why was that necessary?