The ¨Pledge¨ is an awesome movie with tension , thriller , chills and extraordinary performances with special mention to starring Jack Nicholson who does a superb acting . It's a remake from vintage Switzerland/Spain/German co-production titled ¨The Bait¨ (1958) directed by Ladislao Vadja with Heinz Ruhmann , Maria Rosa Salgado , Michael Simon and Gert Frobe . This haunting movie based on a Fredrich Durrenmatt novel concerns about a detective ( an obstinate Jack Nicholson in similar role played by Heinz Ruhmann ) who on the day of his retirement becomes involved in the case of a little girl's killing . The retiring police chief pledges the parents ( Patricia Clarson and Michael O'Keefe in brief performances ) to catch the killer of the young child . Detective Jerry Black has made a promise he can't break, to catch a killer he can't find . At the beginning appears as suspect an unfortunate vagrant , a retarded Native trapper ( incomparable Benicio Del Toro in the role of Michael Simon ). But the Nevada police detective doesn't believe the police detained the right man ; he investigates this is the third incident in the zone in the recent past with victims young , blond, pretty, and small for their age . He gets some clues from a drawing by the killed girl , as the murderous can be a tall man who drives a black car , gives toy porcupines as gifts, and calls himself the wizard . In order to search the killer , the police buys a gas station to Floyd ( Harry Dean Stanton ) and takes employee a separated woman ( a sweet Robin Wright who married Sean Penn ) with a daughter, being his intention of use them as bait for the cruel murderous . The police detective trying to trap a child killer , at the same time his mind on the woman and the little girl . It leads to the climax with the presence of the serial killer along with the kid and the possible tragedy.
This is a well crafted movie plenty of suspense , thrills and psychological studio . The picture functions on various levels with superb characters well played by an all-star cast and a well-paced screenplay . Its perfect developing resides not in displays of frenzied action and grisly violence like happen in modern cinema, but rather lies about interesting characters and suspenseful . The story as told in the novel is scary enough , but the picture manages to create an atmosphere of unbearable tension and palpable terror within the enchanting , brightly-lit outdoors of a small location . Colorful and glittering cinematography by Chris Menges - The mission- . Sensible and touching musical score with some wonderful song by Hans Zimmmer and Klaus Badelt . This fine-tuned motion picture is excellently directed by Sean Penn . In my opinion this is one of the best films to come out of America in the decade of the 2000 .If you like thoughtful and brooding films that are exciting and rich pace with rhythm but no displaying a great deal of action, you'll like this one. Penn has proved to be a good filmmaker , such as : ¨The Indian runner¨(91) , ¨The crossing guard¨(95) , this ¨The pledge¨(2001) and ¨Into the wild¨ (2002) at his best .
Other movies based this exciting novel are the following : 'The cold light of day' (1995) directed by Rudolf Van Den Berg with Richard E Gant , and as a 1997 TV movie ; and of course the best adaptation the Spain/Switzerland/Germany production titled ¨The Bait¨ (1958) directed by Ladislao Vadja .
This is a well crafted movie plenty of suspense , thrills and psychological studio . The picture functions on various levels with superb characters well played by an all-star cast and a well-paced screenplay . Its perfect developing resides not in displays of frenzied action and grisly violence like happen in modern cinema, but rather lies about interesting characters and suspenseful . The story as told in the novel is scary enough , but the picture manages to create an atmosphere of unbearable tension and palpable terror within the enchanting , brightly-lit outdoors of a small location . Colorful and glittering cinematography by Chris Menges - The mission- . Sensible and touching musical score with some wonderful song by Hans Zimmmer and Klaus Badelt . This fine-tuned motion picture is excellently directed by Sean Penn . In my opinion this is one of the best films to come out of America in the decade of the 2000 .If you like thoughtful and brooding films that are exciting and rich pace with rhythm but no displaying a great deal of action, you'll like this one. Penn has proved to be a good filmmaker , such as : ¨The Indian runner¨(91) , ¨The crossing guard¨(95) , this ¨The pledge¨(2001) and ¨Into the wild¨ (2002) at his best .
Other movies based this exciting novel are the following : 'The cold light of day' (1995) directed by Rudolf Van Den Berg with Richard E Gant , and as a 1997 TV movie ; and of course the best adaptation the Spain/Switzerland/Germany production titled ¨The Bait¨ (1958) directed by Ladislao Vadja .