By Robert Scucci
| Published 1 minute ago
When movie fans say “they don’t make ‘em like they used to,” I always try to fight the kneejerk urge to remind them that every era of any artistic medium always has some bangers and clunkers. After watching 2001’s The Pledge, I’m inclined to change my stance on the matter because it’s easily one of the most thoughtful thrillers I’ve seen in a long time, and I can’t believe this one was a blind spot for me. This story about a man’s obsession and unraveling over an unsolved murder is so straightforward and so free of ambiguity that it’s a refreshing change of pace compared to the usual psychological thrillers where we’re never sure if what we’re seeing is real or a collapsing inner world.
The Pledge can’t be categorized as a psychological thriller because we’re dealing with a lucid protagonist, but he’s still treading mentally unstable territory as he digs deeper into the case.
There are psychological elements, and we do see our hero lose himself to an unwavering commitment nobody else shares anymore. The difference, though, is that his mind stays sharp while his moral compass gets compromised, making for a compelling watch as we follow him down the path of total self-destruction.
One Victim Turns To Four
The Pledge is carried by Jack Nicholson’s Jerry Black, a homicide detective on the verge of retirement who’s ready to spend his remaining years fishing and enjoying the quiet life. During his retirement party, his colleague Stan Krolak (Aaron Eckhart) gets word that local girl Ginny Larsen has been murdered, and Jerry joins him because he’s still technically on the force for a few more hours. After speaking with Ginny’s family, her mother Margaret (Patricia Clarkson) makes Jerry promise he’ll find her killer and bring him to justice.
All signs point to Toby Jay Wadenah (Benicio del Toro), but he’s intellectually disabled, coerced into confessing, and takes his own life shortly after being taken into custody. As far as the department is concerned, the case is closed, but something doesn’t sit right with Jerry, who’s clearly the most experienced detective in the room. Unable to walk away without fulfilling his promise to Margaret, he keeps digging and consults neighboring precincts about other unsolved murders.
He eventually realizes that three unsolved cases follow the same pattern, some occurring when Toby was already behind bars for another offense, which means Toby was innocent and the real killer is still out there.
Obsession Of The Highest Order
Jerry’s obsession in The Pledge fully kicks in during a fishing trip when he becomes convinced he’s zeroing in on a specific man with specific habits who drives a specific car, according to a drawing Ginny made for school just days before she was abducted. This leads him to buy a gas station located in the middle of the killer’s suspected path, hoping the job will give him a front row seat when that car finally passes through.
During this period, he befriends Lori (Robin Wright Penn), a local waitress escaping an abusive relationship, and her daughter Chrissy (Pauline Roberts). Jerry is drawn to Chrissy because she fits the victim profile, and after letting Lori move in with him, he slips deeper into surrogate fatherhood while never taking his eyes off the case.
What makes The Pledge so gripping isn’t that Jerry is losing his mind. His wits remain intact. It’s his ethics that start slipping. We slowly realize that he’s using Chrissy as bait, counting on the killer to take notice so he can finally end the case he promised to solve. His intentions start subtle but grow increasingly obvious, and even as we root for him, we can see how far he’s willing to go to keep a promise that no one aside from Margaret asked him to uphold.
Tense, Thoughtful, But Messes Up The Pacing
I honestly loved The Pledge from start to finish, but one plot point briefly took me out of the film. Jerry approaches the gas station owner about buying his business, and in the very next scene he already owns it and is running it without missing a beat. I get that this choice was made for pacing, but in a film that otherwise prides itself on procedural realism, the jump feels abrupt.
Outside of that, The Pledge is a near-perfect thriller because it doesn’t lean on the typical psychological thriller angle. Jerry may be unraveling, but he’s still sharp. His overwhelm is believable, and the real tension comes from watching him push past every moral boundary to catch a killer no one else believes exists. His colleagues think he’s losing it, but we see what he sees. He’s onto something, even if the department refuses to revisit a case they think is already wrapped. As Jerry keeps working the case alone, we can tell he’s still doing better police work in retirement than most of his active colleagues.
Part of the fun is watching him try to get them to take his findings seriously because he expects his successors to care about the job as much as he always did. A stellar thriller that absolutely deserves a look if you’ve slept on it, The Pledge is the real deal and one of the best of its era. As of this writing, you can stream the title on Netflix.
