The Pledge (2001) * * * 1/2

Directed by: Sean Penn

Starring:  Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright, Aaron Eckhart, Benicio del Toro, Patricia Clarkson, Harry Dean Stanton, Helen Mirren, Tom Noonan, Mickey Rourke, Sam Shepard, Vanessa Redgrave

Sean Penn's The Pledge begins as a murder mystery, but then turns into an examination of obsession.  Retiring detective Jerry Black (Nicholson) is attending his own retirement party when a call comes in.  A young girl was found brutally murdered on the side of the road.  Jerry decides to go along to investigate since he is not officially retired yet.  He and his counterparts find a bloodied mess in the snow.  No one has informed the parents, so Jerry does it.  The murdered girl's mother (Clarkson) has Jerry swear on the Bible that he will find out who killed the girl.   

Shortly after, a mentally challenged trucker (del Toro) is brought in for questioning.  Detective Stan Krolak (Eckhart) coerces and gently coaxes a confession, but soon the trucker kills himself and the case is closed.  Jerry knows the killer is still out there, and after retiring, he begins his own investigation which leads to a remote town in the Nevada mountains where Jerry buys the local gas station and begins a relationship with younger single mother Lori (Wright).  Jerry hopes the killer, whom he believes lives in the area, will stumble across him.  Lori has a young daughter who we know Jerry will use as bait when the time is right.  His obsessive quest will defer to no one.  

The Pledge contains one of Jack Nicholson's best performances.  Gone is the devilish smile and charm which lets us know he is getting away with something.   This Nicholson doesn't smile at all as nearly as I can remember.  He is driven by the promise he made the mother to the point that he cannot enjoy anything else.   He was supposed to retire and enjoy fishing in Mexico, but his mind is only on the case.  When he is finding romance with Lori, the pall of the unsolved murder hangs in the balance.  

Director Penn also made The Crossing Guard with Nicholson, which contained another of Nicholson's best performances as a father looking to kill the drunk driver who killed his daughter.  Both of these Nicholson characters have lost the capacity to feel joy because of their obsessions.  Both The Crossing Guard and The Pledge generate sympathy for these people and not judgment.  This is how they are tragically wired.   The conclusion of The Pledge does not provide a payoff to Jerry, although it does for us to a point.  It is a sad, merciless twist in which fate is coldly playing with a man who only wanted to do the right thing and will never have the chance to do that.