Aaron Eckhart: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. Stan Krolak - The Pledge (2001)

In my article on Keira Knightley from earlier this month, I argued that The Jacket was a film that deserved a lot more recognition, in spite of Knightley poor performance as the female lead. The Pledge is another film which deserves to be re-examined by audiences - the difference being that this time the two leads are working in perfect harmony. Based on the novel of the same name by Friedrich Durrenmatt, The Pledge centres on Jack Nicholson's Jerry Black, a police detective whose retirement party is interrupted by the discovery of a murdered young girl called Ginny. Black assists Detective Stan Krolak (Eckhart) in the case, swearing to Ginny's mother that he will find the killer. What follows is an increasingly grim and tense story in which Black is forced to use another young girl as bait in his increasingly obssesive attempts to bring the killer out into the open... Directed by Sean Penn, The Pledge is a gripping and unusual detective story which makes the very best out of a stellar cast. Nicholson dominates proceedings, much as he has done throughout his career, but Eckhart is a good match for him. Nicholson's gravelly tone and more dolorous delivery are complimented by Eckhart's aggressive, often cynical nature, and unlike his performance in The Core (more on that later) he actually looks the part - even with that moustache. In short, The Pledge is very underrated and its performances give you all the more reason to check it out.