Penn Is Mightier

Nicholson makes a Pledge to find a killer, if there is one

Comments (0) By Robert Wilonsky Wednesday, Jan 17 2001

In The Pledge, Reno homicide detective Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) searches for a killer who may exist only in his mind.

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Opens Jan. 19 at multiple locations.

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We soon wonder whether Jerry is motivated or merely mad; his brain spins with images and utterances laid out along the way like clues, if indeed there is a murderer still on the loose. The film, based on a 1958 novel by Friedrich Drrenmatt and adapted by Jerzy Kromolowski and wife Mary Olson-Kromolowski, suggests that the bogeyman lives only in Jerry's mind; in his eyes, everyone's guilty till proven innocent (even, perhaps, himself). The Pledgeis not too unlike the films of M. Night Shyamalan: It presents itself so slowly that when the truth makes itself known, the audience is already vulnerable and is easily shattered by the revelation.

It's not hard to see why actors love working with Penn, even in the smallest roles. He lets them speak monologues even when they're saying nothing at all. A love scene between Nicholson and Wright Penn is shot entirely in closeup; we see their eyes, the way the dimness begins to flicker for only a moment. Helen Mirren, Vanessa Redgrave, Mickey Rourke and Michael O'Keefe show up for brief moments, and watching them interact with Nicholson is like watching McEnroe and Connors going at it during their prime. They give and take unselfishly; they're never more important than what they're saying ... or not saying.