Cheap Mystic River (Widescreen Edition) (DVD) (Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Laura Linney, Emmy Rossum) (Clint Eastwood) Price

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Customer Reviews of Mystic River (Widescreen 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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we bury our sins. we wash them clean.
Based on the Dennis Lehane novel of the same name, Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" is the story of three men who live in the suburbs of Boston: convenience store owner Jimmy Markum (played by Sean Penn), Massachusetts State police officer Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon), and Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins), who goes through unsteady periods of employment. As childhood friends, the three men become reunited when Jimmy's daughter is found brutally murdered one day. While the police continue to investigate, the men rediscover the nightmarish events of a traumatic childhood calamity, and their families soon become aware of the boiling emotions that have begun to arise.

During the first ten minutes of this film, I did not know how much I was going to end up liking it. I felt that the plot wasn't going anywhere, and that there were a lot of scenes that didn't seem to be relevant. However, I soon came to discover how much Eastwood took his time to make this film more than just a murder mystery. "Mystic River" is a quietly gripping thriller that keeps its viewers guessing, but it is also an evocative and somewhat disturbing look at the way people's lives were affected by one tragic incident. Although it is a rather quiet film by most standards, it is no less suspenseful and intriguing than some of this summer's action blockbusters.

As the film progresses, the viewer slowly follows the policemen in their search for the answer to the whodunit, and no key elements beyond their knowledge are ever revealed before they discover them. This is already a high point for me, since I can't even start to count all the thrillers I've seen where I knew the answer before the police did. But while on one hand the film gives the viewer a smoothly unraveling mystery, it also presents several scenes in which a character gives a lengthy soliloquy to express the turmoil his life. Before long, the viewer is brought to nearly the same degree of anguish as the character, and then the film promptly picks up where it left off on the mystery plot. Some scenes and lines may not seem necessary at first, but by the film's end they will help to explain the complex lives of the men and their families.

The film also profits from what may be some of the best performances of the year. Penn is simply stunning as a grieving father who is hell-bent on vengeance, and Oscar-Winner Marcia Gay Harden will more than likely get another nomination for her performance as Dave's wife. Tim Robbins is also superb with a much more difficult role as a sad, confused man, and Bacon is also convincing as a cop with an estranged wife. In fact, Bacon, Robbins, Lawrence Fishburne (as Bacon's partner), Kevin Chapman, and Adam Nelson (as the "Savage Brothers") could very well occupy the entire Best Supporting Actor category this year!

However, "Mystic River" is not a film everyone will enjoy'it took me a few days of retrospect for me to enjoy it as much as I do now'and the denouement is not without a few odd glitches. Having not read the novel, I can't say whether Eastwood remained faithful to the original source material, but the actions of some characters just didn't seem to ring true in the end. Other minor plot elements seemed a little coincidental, and the film's music is too loud and overbearing when used in some tense scenes.

But with sterling performances and a deep, symbolic plotline that transcends most other dramas this year, "Mystic River" is an intelligent film that clearly shows a lot of good work in filmmaking. While it is not perfect, and maybe too slow or long for some viewers, it is more than good enough to qualify as one of the better films of the year so far. See it if it interests you in any way.

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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.