Mystic River....Good and Bad

Rating: 7/10 (13 January 2005)

Usually when I watch a movie I know right away if I think it is good, or if I think it is bad. Mystic River, is a tough movie to judge because it lingers between having a large-cast motivated monetarily and having a large-cast motivated to this movie artistically.
At times the movie seemed to have some acting flaws. Other times, the cast members impressed me a lot, I give a little extra credit to Sean Penn because I think he did an outstanding job. (Although, I would have kind of preferred Bill Murray to win Best Actor in 2003 for "Lost in Translation.")
I think the movie didn't touch base emotionally to viewers as well as it could have (especially with the other competitive movies in the recent years that have been humanistic revolutions, and really have been able to convey subtle emotions and themes of movies to the viewer better in these last few years).
But, the character development was really presented well. I think that Clint Eastwood did an amazing directorial job and the movie didn't bore me at all (it will bore some people who are impatient). I think that Mystic River is really above average compared to other large-cast, monetary motivated movies. Those types of movies are more apt to produce theatrical error.
7/10