The Pledge 2001

Ebert & Roeper: Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: It's the rare -- and rewarding -- police drama that cares more for character than plot. Read more

Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News: Yes, it's grim, but if you don't need your plots sugar-coated, this film about life-change, obsession and keeping your word is an existential winner. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: A movie of impressive performances and intriguing visuals that are worth the effort needed to let the tale roll out. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Not a pleasant film, but it is deeply, scarily rewarding. Read more

Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Drags us through dark places, without convincing us it's a journey worth taking. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Penn's unending parade of unhappy situations is simply too insistent, his suffocating, claustrophobic worldview more of an assault than the revelation he perhaps hopes it will be. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: The performance, and the movie, remind us why Nicholson matters. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: It has all the right credentials, so why is it such a muddled mess? Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: Penn as director shows how he can turn an ordinary movie scene -- how many times have we seen a jailhouse interrogation? -- into something inventively, thrillingly singular. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Damned if Penn doesn't draw you inside this labyrinth of existential murk. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Ultimately, the payoffs just aren't there, either psychologically or dramatically. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Those looking for a 'feel-good' movie are advised to go elsewhere -- unless watching artists working near their peak leaves you soaring. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: Penn can't be faulted for his work with the actors. Most of the featured players have only a scene or two, but they're indelible. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The Pledge will cause many viewers to walk out of the theaters grumbling, since there is no traditional closure. But the way in which things turn out seems right for the material and the manner in which Penn has chosen to present it. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Penn and Nicholson take risks with the material and elevate the movie to another, unanticipated, haunting level. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: Penn's direction is given to flat, self-conscious realism. He has no feel for pacing, no cunning, no natural flow. Read more

Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle: Dark and disturbing but thoroughly involving. It sets off depth charges of the psyche. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Mystery-thriller buffs, promise yourselves that you'll see The Pledge. And while you're at it, be sure to invite along Jack Nicholson fans and anyone who saw the first two movies that Sean Penn directed. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Absorbing dramatically and deeply committed to the acting processes of star Jack Nicholson and the raft of impressive players supporting him. Read more

Variety: Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: Though at times it threatens to meander off, Penn's movie fulfills its destiny as an alienated fable of justice and luck. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It understands the relativism of right and wrong and takes a kind of perverse pleasure in reminding us that there are some things we'll never know. Read more