Pledge, The

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

One of the most aggressively ambiguous pictures of the year. There is a certain power to that.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Not a film for all tastes, but it's a considerable artistic achievement.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Penn and Nicholson take risks with the material and elevate the movie to another, unanticipated, haunting level.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Why on earth didn't Warner Bros. release this movie in time for Oscar consideration? Sure, it's bleak, depressing, sometimes painful to watch. But it would have been one of the best pictures of the year, and Nicholson (who hasn't done work of this caliber since "The Crossing Guard") might have been on the podium again.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

In its dark, relentless, devastatingly ironic way, The Pledge is an exhilarating movie, partly because it isn't afraid to be genuinely challenging.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Nicholson is outstanding as he gradually but tellingly sketches in aspects of a man driven by a mission that outstrips his instincts as a professional lawman.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

If Penn really lets these actors sing, his watchful camera also knows how to respect their silences.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Not a pleasant film, but it is deeply, scarily rewarding.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

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.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

In crafting a fierce, fragmented, downbeat film about a character who makes the wrong decision as a man by being right as a cop, Penn flies in the face of what sells in Hollywood. Godspeed.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

Penn's own gifts as an actor seem, in turn, to bring out the best in Nicholson, as well as the rest of the cast.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

It is understatement to say that Nicholson does some of the finest work of his career here, easily equaling "The Shining" for gargoyle monstrousness and "As Good as It Gets" for tortured humanism.

USA Today Mike Clark

The movie wouldn't be imaginable without its commanding star. Nicholson is in virtually every scene underplaying to great effect

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Jack Nicholson in a performance that ranks among his best, yet leaves you feeling unfulfilled as never before.

Mr. Showbiz Larry Terenzi

Works best as a mood piece — the mood, however, is grim.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Penn is a true talent, but there's just enough languid pretension to The Pledge to make you wonder if he's ultimately more interested in parading his promise as a director than in fulfilling it.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A rare thriller - and a rare American film - that centers on both dramatic and moral issues, crises of conscience. And thanks to a superb central performance by Nicholson as detective Black, it's a film that compels, thrills and ends up coming very close to tragedy.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

Sets off depth charges of the psyche.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The acting is excellent and Penn reconfirms his remarkable talent for muted, understated filmmaking that focuses on character and dialogue rather than spectacle and sensationalism.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Nicholson is terrific here, in a role that demands he act, rather than just be Jack.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

A nervy as well as somber piece of work, not only for the way it confounds and even frustrates certain genre expectations, but also -- and especially -- for the way it confronts the viewer with the moral implications of that frustration.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Though at times it threatens to meander off, Penn's movie fulfills its destiny as an alienated fable of justice and luck, personified by Jack in the twilight of his iconicity, babbling to himself at the crossroads of nowhere.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Short on action but heavy on ambiance, and the cumulative effect packs a whopper if you're willing to stop and think about it. Penn, never one to opt for action over thought, clearly expects that his audience will.

Slate David Edelstein

Fitfully haunting and impressive: a little less loitery and opaque and it might have been a classic.

Film.com Robert Horton

Sometimes feels like an acting class gone berserk, with Penn indulging his high-powered cast

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's unspeakably morbid, and never adds up to be something special.

TNT RoughCut Susannah Breslin

Luckily, Penn's attentive directing and Nicholson's layered acting render The Pledge's occasionally questionable story permutations secondary to enjoying this emotionally powerful film of rare and grave subtlety.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The solemn, morose tone of The Pledge also guarantees a quick box office death: This is essentially a movie about bad things happening to good people, and if you have any interest in seeing this beautifully made bummer, don't wait too long.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Cares not a whit for such arbitrary concepts as justice, crime or punishment. 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.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A forced march toward certain disaster, a scenario only passionate believers in predestination are likely to savor.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The problem isn't a lack of substance, and certainly not a dearth of talent, but a shortage of fun.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

A surprisingly uneven and perhaps even mediocre character drama.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Just a bad movie, with more bits of good acting and flashes of director's invention than you get in most bad movies.