Cheap Mystic River (3 Disc Deluxe Edition) (DVD) (Kevin Bacon) Price

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Customer Reviews of Mystic River (3 Disc Deluxe Edition)

A Triumphant Performance of Humanity!
"Mystic River" is not a movie without flaws, but achieves a level of acting unsurpassed by any movie in recent years. The story revolves around the murder of a man's daughter which brings together a group of three friends who grew up together in south Boston. These three friends are played brilliantly by Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and the underrated performance by Kevin Bacon. These three actors reveal a side of humanity that is inside everyone. Brilliantly directed by Clint Eastwood, "Mystic River" deals with the human emotions of grief and despair occuring from the loss of family and innocence. Kevin Bacon plays the detective on the case of Penn's murdered daughter while Robbins plays a possible suspect as he returns home the night of the murder covered in blood. All three portray different types of emotion, but they all come together in a brilliant ensemble performance made even stronger by the supporting roles of the women of the film.
As I said before, "Mystic River" is not without flaws, when you discover how and why the daughter was murdered, it seems to be contrived and unbelievable, but it is a small factor that doesn't hinder an extremely powerful film.

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the ending changed my opinion of the film
Without giving away any critical plot points, I have to say up front that the ending of this film left me disappointed, confused and irritated. While sitting through the two-plus hours of running time, I was thinking the acting was the best part, not the plot or the characters. I didn't feel any sympathy for any save Tim Robbins' and Marcia Gay Harden's characters. The rest were self-involved, arrogant and cold.

Saying that though the performances were mostly outstanding. Especially from Tim Robbins and Marcia Gay Harden. I am not a Sean Penn fan, and this movie didn't change my mind. Laura Linney's performance was great, if incredulous towards the ending which turned my impressions and feelings 180 degrees. Another reviewer made mention of the ending and how he felt that there were several plot holes, and the characters' motivations and actions didn't add up in the end. I'll second his thoughts, the plot started coming apart in the second hour, and had me replaying prior scenes to make sense of it all.

Once again Clint Eastwood has been lauded by the critics for what I am not sure. It is not a cinematic masterpiece, nor is it a film of the year pick in my book, and I see dozens of films every year.

Save your money and read the book which is probably better, or just wait for the home video release.

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Stale As Month-Old Potato Chips
I was quite surprised at how bad this movie was. Perhaps it was just me, but I was looking forward to a Unforgiven-type directoral masterpiece from Mr. Eastwood and the stars Robbins and Penn. Given the hype this movie recieved (and the oscar nods to its 2 main stars and director Eastwood) I was really ready to sink my viewing teeth into something substantial.

Unfortunately, this movie was as stale as a bag of month-old potato chips. I never really came to symphathize at all with Sean Penn's character, even though his daughter was murdered. I mean, seriously, how can you symphathize with a criminal (Penn's character) who barely was involved in his kid's life to begin with?

Perhaps if the movie had shown a more deeper relationship between Penn and the kid then I could have cared more about the outcome. As it was all my sympathy went to Tim Robbins character, sexually molested as a child and then basically forgotten by his so-called "buddies". In my opinion Tim Robbins is the only reason to watch this movie. He walks around with an aire of utter hopelessness (reminiscent of the character he played in Jacob's Ladder), and yet he tries so hard to get passed the mental anguish of his past and make it through each day as an adult that by the end you are cheering for him.

Which brings me to the other reason why this movie stinks - the ending.

Like in a good novel, the reader/viewer doesn't want to be cheated in the end. I don't want to give away the ending, but be warned - it stinks.

All in all there really wasn't any substance to most of the characters, and I found myself toward the end wondering why I should even finish watching it. I like to be absorbed by characters played with heart and substance. Watching these jokers (except for Robbins) was like watching carboard cutouts being moved around on a stage.