In Reply to: The Jack Nicholson film THE PLEDGE...... posted by Chris Garrett on August 19, 2002 at 12:25:26:
I think it was Sean Penn (the director)'s intent to get you to wonder a bit, although my conclusions differ a bit from yours.I don't think the preacher was the killer, as it was already established that Nicholson's character clearly made a mistake barging it at the tall preacher's church service. Cinematically, it wouldn't make sense to start up the audience's suspicions that he was the killer again. And also like you said, the one that got in the accident in the end ("the Wizard") drove a different black station wagon.
That unnamed/unseen man just really popped in towards the end of the movie, which really seemed contrived, like the director was trying to grope for a conclusion to the story. He settled for the "poetic justice" ending, having the car and the mysterious person be burned in a fiery car wreck (close-up shot: man burning/killer burning in hell).
Like you, I didn't understand the part where the woman was yelling about Oliver either.
It could have been a good movie. Liked Nicholson in it. Penn has some good stylistic techniques, but he seemed undecided whether to treat it as a whodunit or a story of a committed man driven bonkers by unfulfillment of a promise.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- I saw it over the weekend, and... - thekingpin 11:01:36 08/20/02 (3)
- I went back into our archives and.................... - Chris Garrett 16:03:43 08/20/02 (1)
- Re: I went back into our archives and.................... - thekingpin 17:21:54 08/20/02 (0)
- Re: I saw it over the weekend, and... - mikenyc 11:33:22 08/20/02 (0)