Mystic River: I give it a 7 out of 10.

Rating: 7/10 (16 October 2003)

Mystic River
Mystic River is a psychological thriller that looks at a murder case from the points of view of three main characters: Sean (Kevin Bacon) a cop, trying to solve the case, Jimmy (Sean Penn), the father of the victim, and Dave (Tim Robins), an old friend of the two who might be hiding something about the murder. The movie begins by showing us those three characters when they were kids playing street hockey on the street, followed by an event that will change Dave's life forever. It is due to the distress this event has brought upon on Dave's character that will later draw suspicions on him about the murder. When we are brought back to present time, we see that Jimmy is running a grocery store and has a daughter; Dave is also married and has a kid. After the murder, we are introduced to present-time Sean, who is the investigator on the case.
Mystic River succeeds in keeping the audience guessing until the end while questioning the concepts of prejudice, justice and karma. Jimmy's insistence on taking the matters into his own hands to punish the killer reveals his aggressive side which, combined with his obstinate prejudice and criminal tendency, makes us gradually lose our sympathy for him despite the tragedy. Jimmy's first suspect is her daughter's secret boyfriend, son of Just Ray, with whom Jimmy had a feud with in his criminal past. But our attention quickly turns to Dave as his alleged story about the confrontation with the mugger at the night of the murder looks less credible due to his deeply troubled and disturbed character. Instead of feeling sorry for Jimmy, who lost his daughter, we find ourselves feeling sorry for Dave who might have something to do with the murder.

The first thing that stands out about `Mystic River' is the Oscar-caliber performances of Sean Penn and Tim Robbins. Performances of Marcia Gay Harden, Laurence Fishburne and Laura Linney are also worth mentioning. Second thing that caught my attention was that it rightly gives you the feeling that is adapted from a powerful book. Clint Eastwood does a good job of directing but it is not his directing that makes the movie work. It is the performances of the actors and the strength of the book the movie is based on that makes it work.
Having said that, I also must say that there are some parts of the movie which, in my opinion, do not work as well as they are intended to. The phone calls from Sean's wife fail to rouse any feeling, probably due to the fact that we are not familiar enough with both characters or the nature of their dispute. It might have been better if the introduction (act 1) of the movie were stretched just a little longer to give us some familiarity with all of the characters. Instead, most attention is given to the act 2, the investigation. However, what bothered me the most was the Sean's reaction to the revelation by Jimmy in the end because it appeared to be in conflict with the portrayal of his character. I guess the signals were there during the interrogation scenes, where Sean played the `good cop' for his friend Dave, but the bad cop for the boyfriend, that Sean was moved by his emotions. Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to not carry out his duties like a rational police officer.