The Pledge

On his last day as a cop, Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) makes a pledge to the mother of a murdered child to find the killer. He believes the culprit is still out there, though his colleagues have closed the case. His dedication, however, gradually morphs into fixation; and eventually his good intentions rebound on those closest to him and on himself. The story is very moving and almost at the level of a Greek tragedy.

Sean Penn proves himself a first-rate director who gets moving, deep performances out of all his actors. Nicholson is perfect in his depiction of an honest man trying to do the world one last favour before retiring peacefully. And what a supporting cast! In addition to Nicholson, there's Harry Dean Stanton, Benecio Del Toro, Tom Noonan, Vanessa Redgrave, Robin Wright Penn, the list goes on.

Beautifully shot and edited with good use of music, this is by far one of the best dramas I have seen for a long while.

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