I watched 2001’s “The Pledge“ starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Sean Penn a few years after it came out. At the time, I proclaimed the neo-noir the greatest film ever made. (The world, committed as it is to ignoring my sage proclamations, took little notice.) I was, in particular, in awe of Penn’s directing, and I’m still not clear why he hasn’t thrived more in that domain.

I rewatched the film a couple nights ago. Do I still think it’s the greatest? 

I’m not so sure. 

The plot is as follows. Nicholson plays Jerry Black, a detective who has just retired from the Reno police force. For reasons not worth getting into, he gets pulled into one last case: a child murder. He makes a pledge to the child’s parents that he will find the killer.

He put some effort into this, but after getting blocked in his pursuits, seems to embrace retirement by settling down to run a gas station. He means a substantially younger woman (played by the director’s then-wife, Robin Wright Penn) who has a daughter about the same age as the child victim in the case he pledged to solve. Life seems good. All Jerry needs to do is appreciate what he has.

But that unsolved still nags at him. He suspects the killer travels in the area he now lives. As the film unfolds, we start to wonder if Jerry is offering his new adoptive daughter as a kind of bait.

It’s a great premise and creates a kind of unfolding emotional horror as we observe how far Jerry is willing to go to catch this murderer. What makes things worse is that for much of the movie it’s unclear whether there even is a serial killer at work. 

So, there’s a lot to like here. But upon my second viewing, the improbability of Jerry‘s relationship with his new wife felt too much like a plot contrivance. And Penn’s use of female grief felt exploitative. There are also a few events that strain credulity upon repeated viewing; at one point, Black is able to summon the use of a SWAT team on a whim.

Despite my newfound complaints, the film is still a good watch—I’d call it a must-see.”

Mickey Rourke and Benecio Del Toro both have small but meaningful roles. Aaron Echardt (whom I once stood in line with at a Starbucks) has a meaty part.

I may watch this in twenty years and have a completely different reaction. 

Best line: “There are such devils.”