MovieChat Forums > The Pledge (2001) Discussion > Massive plot hole at the end.

Massive plot hole at the end.


So, Aaron Eckart at the end decides that Jack has lost his marbles, is not reliable, and there is no killer anymore. It was Del Toro, and this is all useless.
And he's gonna tell Wright Penn.
TELL HER WHAT?

She swiftly flies to retrieve her daughter, and immediately dumps Jack accusing him of endangering her daughter and using her to catch a killer.
Which is what WE know is true, but not what Aaron does. He thinks Jack is a drunk and a clown, not someone that put anybody in danger as there is no killer still alive to lure.

So what would Aaron accuse jack of exactly in the conversation with her?
(not to mention how preposterous it is that he would waste his time to warn this woman that her daughter is having a fantasy tea party about imaginary wizards, and her drunk clown partner believes the wizard to be an imaginary serial killer - wrf is he, a cop or a kindergartener gossiping on his friends?).

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I think her outrage is due to his perfect willingness to put her daughter in harm's way to achieve an ends, regardless of whether that harm was real or not.

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No, that's not the way it's portrayed in the movie.
She drives like a madman to get there as quickly as possible to SAVE her.
But her daughter is only playing tea party with the imaginary wizard.
Why would she act that way if she didn't fear a real danger for her?

Also, she dumps him right then and there, but NEVER says something like "you are crazy for THINKING this stuff- why are you obsessed with this case- there is no serial killer, go get some help". Instead, she is furious about the REAL DANGER he puts her daughter in.

We know that's true. But why would she think that?
There's the plot hole right there.

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She did call jack Nicholson crazy. But even if the cops told her the daughter wasn't in any danger, she would still be worried that jack Nicholson could be right about there being a killer.

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She calls him crazy for using her daughter to get a serial killer, not for believing there is a serial killer. She was seriously concerned for her wellbeing, not angry tha he believes in crazy theories. Hence the plothole.
So, what exactly DID the cops tell her?
I'd like to hear that totally realistic, not plot holey at all, dialogue.

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I'd say they would have told her that jack Nicholson is using her daughter as bait to catch a serial killer.

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So they decide to lie over the fact that they are sure the serial killer does not exist?
Why on earth would they do that?
She should sue them for not arresting Jack and not rescuing her daughter.

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They probably said that they don't think the killer exists. But if it was your kid, no matter how slim a chance that jack was right, you'd wanna get to your kid as quick as possible.

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So the cops bothered this woman, tracked her down to her house, went completely out of their duties, just to tell her: "look madam, your daughter is being used by your friend as bait to attract a serial killer, which we don't think exists. So she's totally safe and in no danger playing tea in the park, there's our message, have a good day".
That's already crazy.
But it gets worse: said woman, heard such completely insane message from the police, instead of saying "my friend/boyfriend is bonkers, I'd better stay away from him - and wtf is the police up to gossiping like this?" she understands the police message as "my daughter is in danger playing tea in the park! Let me rescue her full throttle this second or she's gonna die!!!"

Look, the reality is that this is a stupid plot hole, the writer and director didn't think it through, they just thought "Aaron is gonna spy on him because he's fed up with his theories and he wants to believe they already caught the killer, so the case is closed and enough with this nonsense". His spying can only be "I'm gonna tell her that you are crazy". But they forgot that that is completely in contrast with the next scene, her being worried about said imaginary killer. She is on another page of the script, while the film reality has moved on to "officially there is no serial killer and Jack is a crazy clown". Only WE (and the killer) know the reality, everybody else in the movie, including Jack, officially know differently. There is NO slim chance Jack is right, the police must have been super clear on that one with her, or else they are not doing their job.

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Well your mind is obviously made up and that's fine. I don't think it's a plothole and I don't think any of the actions by any of the characters are too hard to believe.

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My mind is made up, but I'm willing to change it if I hear an explanation that makes sense of that plot hole.

The actions are quite hard to believe AND they cause a plot hole.
Like I said, the police actions after the failed trap are quite sketchy to begin with, but I could believe that if what happens next makes some sense. But then her reaction is also unbelievable from the narrative we see. That's why I'm bitching about it.

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But he put her daughter in a position where he believed that there was a real killer. Regardless of whether or not you personally believed there was a killer, if someone who believed there was a killer used your daughter as bait, would you not be furious at that person?

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Not if I think he's crazy.
I would just be mad that he, a crazy man with crazy theories, hangs around my daughter.
NOT that, according to his crazy theories, he put her in danger.
Who the hell does that? (being mad at a loon for putting somebody in "danger" in their pretend world-no danger at all according to our real world).

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