Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
71
(33 sources)
71
(33 sources)
-
91
Portland Oregonian
One of the most aggressively ambiguous pictures of the year. There is a certain power to that. Read Full Review » -
88
New York Post
Not a film for all tastes, but it's a considerable artistic achievement. Read Full Review » -
88
Chicago Sun-Times
Penn and Nicholson take risks with the material and elevate the movie to another, unanticipated, haunting level. Read Full Review » -
88
Charlotte Observer
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. Read Full Review » -
88
Boston Globe
In its dark, relentless, devastatingly ironic way, The Pledge is an exhilarating movie, partly because it isn't afraid to be genuinely challenging. Read Full Review » -
80
Variety
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. Read Full Review » -
80
New York Magazine
If Penn really lets these actors sing, his watchful camera also knows how to respect their silences. Read Full Review » -
80
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80
Dallas Observer
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. Read Full Review » -
80
Rolling Stone
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. Read Full Review » -
80
LA Weekly
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. Read Full Review » -
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
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. Read Full Review » -
75
USA Today
The movie wouldn't be imaginable without its commanding star. Nicholson is in virtually every scene underplaying to great effect Read Full Review » -
75
New York Daily News
Jack Nicholson in a performance that ranks among his best, yet leaves you feeling unfulfilled as never before. Read Full Review » -
75
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75
Entertainment Weekly
Penn is a true talent, but there's just enough languid pretension to The Pledge to make you wonder if he's ultimately more interested in parading his promise as a director than in fulfilling it. Read Full Review » -
75
Chicago Tribune
A rare thriller - and a rare American film - that centers on both dramatic and moral issues, crises of conscience. And thanks to a superb central performance by Nicholson as detective Black, it's a film that compels, thrills and ends up coming very close to tragedy. Read Full Review » -
75
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75
Christian Science Monitor
The acting is excellent and Penn reconfirms his remarkable talent for muted, understated filmmaking that focuses on character and dialogue rather than spectacle and sensationalism. Read Full Review » -
75
Baltimore Sun
Nicholson is terrific here, in a role that demands he act, rather than just be Jack. Read Full Review » -
70
Chicago Reader
A nervy as well as somber piece of work, not only for the way it confounds and even frustrates certain genre expectations, but also -- and especially -- for the way it confronts the viewer with the moral implications of that frustration. Read Full Review » -
70
Village Voice
Though at times it threatens to meander off, Penn's movie fulfills its destiny as an alienated fable of justice and luck, personified by Jack in the twilight of his iconicity, babbling to himself at the crossroads of nowhere. Read Full Review » -
70
TV Guide
Short on action but heavy on ambiance, and the cumulative effect packs a whopper if you're willing to stop and think about it. Penn, never one to opt for action over thought, clearly expects that his audience will. Read Full Review » -
70
Slate
Fitfully haunting and impressive: a little less loitery and opaque and it might have been a classic. Read Full Review » -
70
Film.com
Sometimes feels like an acting class gone berserk, with Penn indulging his high-powered cast Read Full Review » -
67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It's unspeakably morbid, and never adds up to be something special. Read Full Review » -
65
TNT RoughCut
Luckily, Penn's attentive directing and Nicholson's layered acting render The Pledge's occasionally questionable story permutations secondary to enjoying this emotionally powerful film of rare and grave subtlety. Read Full Review » -
63
Miami Herald
The solemn, morose tone of The Pledge also guarantees a quick box office death: This is essentially a movie about bad things happening to good people, and if you have any interest in seeing this beautifully made bummer, don't wait too long. Read Full Review » -
60
Washington Post
Cares not a whit for such arbitrary concepts as justice, crime or punishment. It understands the relativism of right and wrong and takes a kind of perverse pleasure in reminding us that there are some things we'll never know. Read Full Review » -
60
Los Angeles Times
A forced march toward certain disaster, a scenario only passionate believers in predestination are likely to savor. Read Full Review » -
60
Wall Street Journal
The problem isn't a lack of substance, and certainly not a dearth of talent, but a shortage of fun. Read Full Review » -
50
Austin Chronicle
A surprisingly uneven and perhaps even mediocre character drama. Read Full Review » -
40
Salon.com
Just a bad movie, with more bits of good acting and flashes of director's invention than you get in most bad movies. Read Full Review »
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