The Pledge (2001) Dir: Sean Penn

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Sean Penn's somewhat forgotten crime thriller, based on the 1958 crime novella by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, is honestly a film I only knew existed because I saw it, by chance, on Netflix. It very much seemed to be one of those crime thrillers that ended up fading into obscurity in the years after its release. Either way, it looked like it could be an intriguing watch.

There were some shockingly explicit visuals early on, at least briefly. Regardless of how brief it all was, it was still horrifying to see. The rest of the film lacked that same severity. The film was tonally very dark, and delved into some very grim topics, as crime thrillers tend to do. I wouldn't say it ever reached the impact levels of some of the best crime films, but it had its moments.

I found the story at least fairly gripping, and at times very suspenseful, though not always. It was as much a very bleak character study as it was a detective crime thriller. I was disappointed by the film's pretty anti-climactic ending, which didn't give much in the way of answers, for a lot of different plot points. All-in-all, it was just an unsatisfying film to watch. It wasn't entirely bad, just not as good as it could have been.

Jack Nicholson had elements of a very strong performance throughout the film, but I wasn't entirely enamoured by him. I think he was just a little too far out there for my liking. I think this was partly direction, of course, but equally, Nicholson seemed to be fixated on acting slightly drunk for the vast majority of the film.

Robin Wright's performance was probably my favourite thing about this film. She was very solid, in my opinion. The emotions she exhibited towards the end of the film were particularly good. I kind of wished she had more screentime, because every scene of hers made the film better.

There were some strong supporting performances from the likes of Helen Mirren, Aaron Eckhart, and Sam Shephard in particular, whilst Benicio del Toro, Patricia Clarkson, Mickey Rourke, and Vanessa Redgrave also deserved mentions, albeit for slightly less impressive acting displays.

Overall, although I did like some aspects of the film, it was extremely clear to me why this film has been largely forgotten about in the decades following its release; it's just so average. I wouldn't say it was bad or anything, but it left very little impression on me beyond thinking it was okay and not much more. I am certain there was a good film in there somewhere, but this was not it, unfortunately.