Execptional acting - unexceptional story

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2005)

I have always found Clint Eastwood a largely dull screen presence. His famed looks apart, as an actor he displays a minuscule range. In the light of this undoubtedly minority opinion, it comes as something of a surprise that he should have developed into such a fine director.
True he has a top notch cast to work with. But they are not simply performing at the level to which they owe their reputations. Penn, Robbins, Bacon, Harden and Linney all manage to reach the very cores of their characters and the result is a genuinely stunning array of performances. Eastwood is clearly a director of immense sensitivity. For this alone, "Mystic River" is essential viewing.
The pity of it all is that the material itself is way below the characters that people this pretty lame whodunit. The resolution of the murder borders on the insulting. While the characters are extremely well drawn, the problematic storyline severely hinders the movie. Excellently filmed, brilliantly acted, the end result should have been a far more memorable movie.