It just keeps rolling along

Rating: Null/10 (13 November 2003)

'Mystic River' is a very good picture that does maintain suspense throughout its 2 hour and 17 minute run time. The ensemble of Penn, Robbins, Bacon, Fishburne, Linney and Harden as well as the rest of the supporting players were fine as well. I feel that the actor who should should be recognized for his performance is Tim Robbins. Don't get me wrong - Sean Penn is good (a combo of DeNiro and Mitchum physically) but I could see other actors playing the Jimmy Markum part - Kevin Spacey for one comes to mind. Penn may be deserving of a nomination but the competition out there may be strong enough to split or take away votes. Clint Eastwood's direction was excellent, but my gripe is with the running time. The film could have been at least 20 minutes shorter and accomplished the same thing. I rarely look at my watch to see how much longer, but believe me I was tempted. This is one of the better movies I've seen this year, but to place it into an instant classic status in my opinion is a little premature.