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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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