The Pledge

Cast View all

	Patricia Clarkson	Margaret Larsen
	Beau Daniels	Rudy
	Benicio Del Toro	Toby Jay Wadenah
	Dale Dickey	Strom
	Wendy Donaldson	Resort Owner
	Adrien Dorval	Sheriff
	Aaron Eckhart	Stan Krolak
	Shawn Henter	Bus Driver
	Kathy Jensen	Store Clerk
	Taryn Knowles	Ginny Larsen
	Nels Lennarson	Hank
	Costas Mandylor	Monash Deputy
	J.J. McColl	Real Estate Agent
	Gordon May	Criminologist #1
	Gardiner Millar	Deputy #3
	Helen Mirren	Doctor
	Adam Nelson	Deputy #1
	Jack Nicholson	Jerry Black
	Tom Noonan	Gary Jackson
	Michael O'Keefe	Duane Larsen
	Tony Parsons	TV Anchorman
	Robin Wright Penn	Lori
	Robert Popoff	Prisoner
	Vanessa Redgrave	Annalise Hansen
	Nicole Robert	Flea Market Sales Lady

Crew View all

Director	Sean Penn
Writer	Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Jerzy Kromolowski, Mary Olson-Kromolowski
Producer	Don Carmody, Brian W. Cook, Michael Fitzgerald, Sean Penn, Elie Samaha, Andrew Stevens
Musician	Klaus Badelt, Hans Zimmer
Photography	Chris Menges

Personal

Notes

Story Synopsis:
Based on the book by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, The Pledge stars Jack Nicholson as Jerry Black, a homicide detective on the day of his who becomes obsessed with solving the murder of a seven-year-old girl when he makes a promise to the girl’s grief-stricken mother (Clarkson). Stan Krolak (Eckhart), the detective actually assigned to the case-remember, Jerry’s retired now-accepts the confession he coerced from Toby Jay Wadenah (Del Toro) a local man of diminished capacity. Toby then kills himself, and the police close the case. But Jerry is not at all convinced that the killer has been eliminated. A compelling mystery with a fine cast. (Laurie Sevano)

DVD Picture:
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 DVD exhibits a picture that is nicely detailed, with occasionally soft images. Fine details are at times revealing of fine clothing and facial details. Colors are well balanced, though at times appearing slightly desaturated, with slightly weak blacks. Otherwise, hues can be rich, with vibrant reds and deep greens. Fleshtones exhibit good balance. Very rarely does pixelization appear. At times the picture exhibits gorgeous, natural openness. Overall, this is a very satisfying picture. (Suzanne Hodges)

Soundtrack:
The sonic presentation is typically rather quiescent in nature, but also delivers a satisfying listening experience through the music. Fidelity is quite remarkable, and at reference level tonality seems neutral and well balanced. The dialogue is in general a notable production with natural-sounding voices, and a spatial presence that is just a bit compromised due to voices seeming a little forward-placed. Nonetheless, the sense of spaciousness is generally subtle throughout, but certainly remarkable in imparting the sense of being in an expansive, holosonic listening space. The music nicely fills the soundstage, occasionally with aggressive split surround envelopment, but even when gently present is certainly pleasing to experience as it wraps around the listener. The music also delivers impressively in the low-end at times with sub-25Hz extension, albeit originating from other than the .1 LFE channels. This is a nicely produced soundtrack that is certainly engrossing and an effective, vital component of the storytelling experience. (Perry Sun)

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