Jack Nicholson's presence in a film instantly gives it something to watch. No one ever knows what he's up to, what he might pull out of nowhere or how he might crack. It's especially compelling when he's playing what seems to be a relatively normal person, because there's always something under the surface waiting to emerge, and with Jack, the surface can be just as creepy as whatever it's hiding.
In Sean Penn's The Pledge, Jack plays retiring detective Jerry Black, who doesn't seem to be looking forward to it. He even leaves his retirement party to investigate the tragic case of a little girl found raped and murdered in the woods. There's a witness - a mentally disturbed Indian (Benicio Del Toro) - that is goaded into confessing, and it seems like an open and shut case to everybody but Jerry. He does some digging and finds some straws to grasp at, but when don't let him keep the case open, he tries to resign himself to go about his normal post-cop life. But the promise he made to the little girl's parents (Patricia Clarkson, Michael O'Keefe) to find the killer continues to haunt him, until he finds himself setting up a sting operation to try to bag the real culprit - whether he's doing it consciously or subconsciously is the real question.
Co-starring Robin Wright Penn, Sam Shepard, Aaron Eckhart, Helen Mirren and Vanessa Redgrave, The Pledge is one of those strong films that slips through the cracks and no one ever talks about. It's one of Jack's most un-Jack roles, and that merits a revisit the next time you're in the mood for a good drama.
Watch the trailer for Sean Penn's The Pledge, starring Jack Nicholson.
