Simply The Best Detective Drama So Far Made. May Be A Spoiler.

Rating: 10/10 (24 October 2003)

In THE UNFORGIVEN Eastwood made the best Western Film that has so far appeared on the screen and now in MYSTIC RIVER he has made the best Detective Movie. This is not a movie for Beavis and Butthead. There are no car chases and no obvious plot twists. This is a film about loyalty, intelligence, and the devastating effects of a culture based on lies and deception. In some ways it is reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman's VIRGIN SPRING and in some ways of Shakespeare's MACBETH, yet it always is unique--and uniquely unsettling. It takes us much deeper into the world of Eddie Coyle (see THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE) than some may really want to go. Early in the movie a very minor character says of a young boy who has just gone thru four days of sexual abuse,"The boy is damaged goods." That line in effect introduces everything that follows. Unless movie politics intervenes, MYSTIC RIVER should take the Best Picture Award for 2003 and Sean Penn, who plays the most complexly evil character that I've ever seen on the screen, should win Best Actor. It goes without saying that Robbins deserves Best Supporting Actor.