"The Pledge" ran 124 minutes too long. One of my favorite stars, Jack Nicholson, should be forever embarrassed. I had always thought that Sean Penn was a talented young man. I've now revised my opinion.
The premise of the movie could have worked. It didn't. There was no plot, just a series of semi-related and very boring scenes. They could and should have been cut, but then there would be only opening and ending credits remaining.
The characters, without exception, were most unlikeable.
Shots of mutilated children were obviously put in solely for shock effect.
Sex was implied but not shown. Accordingly, we were even cheated out of some gratuitous sex. I postulated that Nicholson looked so grubby on the set, the woman playing his girlfriend probably wouldn't climb into bed with him, even for the sake of the film.
I don't recall the word "pledge" used at any point in the movie. "Promise," yes. Maybe the title was an afterthought? Maybe the entire film was created on the spur of the moment?
Apparently, the story was to have taken place in Nevada. It was patently obvious that most of the filming was done in British Columbia.
The print in the theater where I saw this bomb had, from time to time, very distracting, nearly horizontal scratches. Color was less than optimal. Many scenes weren't even in sharp focus.
Surprisingly, none of the audience walked out during the screening. Perhaps they were waiting to find out if anything would happen. It didn't. At the end of the movie, I've never seen an entire audience exit so quickly--grumbling about what a lousy movie "The Pledge" was.
I talked with several others who had seen the film. We all thought we had been "taken" and should have asked for our money back.
When I was a kid I used to make "stink bombs" out of old nitrate-base movie film. This film smells all by itself.
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