Thought provoking and issue laden - a flawed great

Rating: 9/10 (10 March 2004)

Mystic River comes with baggage. It's Oscar success, the casting of actors very much at the top of their game and a director who's contribution to popular culture through cinema has been long and varied.

Such a list always fills me with a nervous anticipation, a sense that 'it may not be all it's made out to be'. In this sense I'm happy to say that Mystic River does not disappoint. The Oscars are well deserved (very much so), the cast superb and Eastwood directing stylishly, if a little fussily at times. The plot is a simple one, a modern rough at the edges 'who dunnit', centering around three old neighbourhood friends with some shared baggage of their own.
Where Mystic River scores points is not in the complexity of its narrative as a good yarn (though that is not to be underestimated), but in the issues that run through the film. This is precisely that kind of cinematic experience that everyone draws their own set of issues from. In the boiling pot are issues of justice, retribution, prejudice, working class anger, personal history and so much more. In particular it should be noted that Robbins character raises all sorts of issues about what we think the better of two evils are, that in not doing one evil deed but perpetrating another (slightly less evil one) makes him a man deserving our sympathy- and it really does, such is the strength of his performance and Helgelend's beautfuly succint script. Above all else it's a powerful film, leading to more questions than it can ultimately answer.
Critics who point to its poor acting I cannot respond to you. Even allowing for taste and parochial accent spotting, all the cast perform well, with Penn and particularly Robbins as stand outs. If you seriously quesiton the quality on display here it's hard to know quote what you would consider a 'great' perfromance to be.
Indeed what ultimately stands out from Mystics River - fine script aside - are the performances. Worth the admission price alone for anyone with a serious interest in cinema or who just wants to enjoy an interesting few hours of thought provoking film. There are flaws, yes. The whole thing is just slighlty too long for example and the ending whilst refeshingly un-hollywoodised is disappointing.
In sum, great acting, nice script and a definate must see.
8/10