A "myst" opportunity

Rating: 5/10 (28 October 2003)

I'm not sure how this film got its critical acclaim; maybe it's because of the names that were involved. But it's inescapable that MYSTIC RIVER has problems.
There are character problems. No character truly undergoes any kind of significant development; they deserve our pity, but not our empathy. Bacon's character is too middle-of-the-road to associate with, although the audience should associate with him the most -- he's trying to figure out the murder. Fishburne's character is a mere necessity of plot. Penn's character, while the deepest in the movie, disappoints in the end -- he's weaker than we're led to believe. Linney is hardly in the movie, but then is shown to be the supreme motivating force -- how did that get past draft one?
There are casting problems. Bacon and Fishburne are too conspicuous to be in their roles, and Robbins doesn't pull off the Boston accent well. Granted, Penn is great in this flick, as always (I consider him to be one of the best around), but it's not enough to carry the entire movie.
There are theme problems. Clint, you hammer us over the head with things that should be subtle! Case in point -- the vampire scene. Robbins is watching a vampire movie and launches into a tirade about how he's a vampire. There's nothing artistic about it! The cross on the abductor's ring, and the cross on Penn's back. The communion against the murder (come on, we've seen this before in the greatest movie of all time -- talk about cliche).
It's terrible when you see a film and you feel that something great is there. There's so much talent -- but even the greatest talent can't overcome a story poorly adapted for the screen. There is so much that can be done with a story so powerful, but Clint didn't do it for me with this one.