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Poster (c) Warner Bros.
In many ways, I didn’t want to like Mystic River. I’m always wary when movies receive universal praise, and, although I wanted to see it, I actually hoped that I would be going against everyone. That wasn’t the case (although it was with Blood Work, Clint Eastwood’s previous movie: I loved it while everyone else didn’t) here: I loved it as much as the next critic. I say this often, but Mystic River deserves acting Oscars. Eastwood’s one fatal mistake was to not release this movie in December, when people would remember its acting. Now it will be lucky if it gets one nomination for acting.
One day, three friends are playing in a street when one is abducted. He escapes four days later. Twenty five years later, all three friends are reunited. Jimmy’s (Sean Penn) daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum) is murdered. Dave (Tim Robbins), who was the abducted child, who still lives in the town, becomes closer to Jimmy, and Sean (Kevin Bacon) is a cop investigating the case. It’s more than just a murder mystery, it’s a deep character study into the lives of three broken men.
If you walk out of Mystic River hating the movie, you cannot deny that it had a cast whose acting prowess alone was worthy, and the performances the actors put in make the movie one of the best with the ensemble of actors. Each actor puts out an outstanding job, each better than the next. If I had to pick one person who did the best job, I would have to pick Robbins. His performance was so powerful and believable as a broken man. Next would have to be Laurence Fishburne as a police officer, maybe because I’m glad to see him in something other than The Matrix; he deserves better than that.
Mystic River is one of those movies that are hard to put into words without sounding clichéd, but I’ll attempt to anyway. I could call it powerful, which it is, but everyone else has said that because they too are at a loss of words. It’s really an experience you have to see to understand. The mystery of the whole movie (who the murderer was) was done very well; I’m not sure who contributed to it more, Eastwood or screenwriter Brian Helgeland, but it was seemed that every person in the town could have committed the murder. That’s a pretty good trick.
There are four things that really made this remarkable movie a little less. First was how much Robbins and Penn looked alike (to me), so it was hard to tell them apart. Many characters were underdeveloped, such as the Savage brothers, and since they were crucial to the plot, it didn’t really work. It seems like there were a few scenes taken out, especially about the Mystic River, which is only referred to once or twice. Maybe there’s more references in the book. Lastly, and most importantly, when the killer was revealed at the end, it was done in such a nonchalant way it doesn’t sink in and have the impact it should. If you can overlook those few things, then chances are you’ll love Mystic River.
Rated R for language and violence.
Review Date: October 20, 2003