A potentially great film spoiled by a very odd ending.

Rating: 6/10 (2 April 2011)

There's the well-known gibe about an incompetent general 'snatching defeat from the jaws of victory', and although director Clint Eastwood has not exactly served up a turkey, the final ten minutes of Mystic River to force one to ask: what on earth was he thinking? The film could, if you allow the conceit, be seen to follow the 'arc' of tragedy, with everything coming to a head in the fourth act, and the final fifth act settling things, acting as a kind of resolution. In that case, Eastwood's – or was he perhaps following studio orders? I very much doubt it but it would be only fair to ask – produces a spectacularly inappropriate final act, which doesn't exactly ruin the film, but does make it rather less than it might have been which is very, very good indeed. I'm not one for recapping 'what happened', but briefly the abduction by two paedophiles of one of three young lads playing in the street is, in many ways central to the story (from the novel by Denis Lehane who also wrote the novel on which Shutter Island was based). The abducted lad (Tim Robbins) never really recovers from his ordeal, and although that is not the central theme of the film, it is a crucial plot point. Meeting the three lads and witnessing the abduction works as a prologue, and we are reintroduced to them later in life. The abducted lad has become a handyman who has never worked the evil he was subjected to out of his system and in a curious plot twist this leads to his death. The second of the lads (Kevin Bacon) ends up as a homicide detective whose pregnant wife has left him, and the third (Sean Penn) has become a corner shop owner after a shaky start in life in which he served two years in jail. It would be futile to try to outline the plot further, as it is so intricately and cleverly. But I should add that the daughter of the corner shop owner is found beaten to death and the lad who became a homicide detective is assigned to the case alongside his sergeant. The handyman is briefly suspected of the murder after his alibi on the night comes into question, and his troubled behaviour leads to his death. Although Mystic River (and I have yet to understand the significance of that title) is partly a straightforward and very good mystery thriller as Bacon and his partner (Laurence Fishbourne) set about solving the murder, coming across wholly unexpected evidence. Meanwhile, Penn, the murdered girl's father vows to find the killer himself (with the help of two criminal associates), and Robbins, who comes into the frame after having briefly been in the same bar as the murdered girl and later arriving home covered in blood with a shaky story about having been mugged slowly goes to pieces. But that's all I shall tell you and, really, as far as this review is concerned, that's all you need to know. So far so good, and Mystic River, which unsurprisingly is well acted, well plotted, well directed and well filmed seems well on its way to becoming something of a classic. But oddly it all goes very. Very wrong in two scenes which make very little sense at all. In the first, Penn's wife (Laura Linney.), who knows what her husband has done – he has killed someone – persuades him that it is all for the good and that it will make him a stronger, better man. The scene would, perhaps, had made more sense – though not a great deal more – had Eastwood somehow acquainted us more with Linney's character, but we doesn't. In this odd scene, she is portrayed as some kind of gangster's moll who feels she has to stand by her man and provide a little backbone. But apart from that scene being out of kilter with the rest of the film, it incomprehensibly tries to show Penn's character as some kind of heroic figure, when he is, in fact, nothing of the kind. By the end of the film we realise that he is nothing better than a small-time thug, so why Eastwood tacked on – and tacking on is what he seems to have done – the scene between Penn and Linney is bizarre. The second oddity is that Bacon's detective knows full well what has happened – that Penn has murdered the handyman – yet apparently is happy to let it slide. Or if not happy to let it slide, at least, somehow 'understands'. There is a suggestion that he intends coming after Penn at some future date, but the tone of the film doesn't suggest much urgency. Penn, the grieving, vengeful father of the murdered girl, it seems, is supposed to be rather heroic. Well, forgive me for disagreeing. It's always possible, that I have missed something, have misunderstood something, and that Mystic River, as conceived by Eastwood, makes good sense. But it's also possible that Eastwood has simply misjudged his project and tacked on an ending which might satisfy those who like a sentimental conclusion but which otherwise rather ruins what could have been very, very good. Finally, what was the significance of Bacon being reunited with his wife? Marriage and the relationship all three lads have, when grown up, with their wives, seems to be a theme, but I, for one, could not make head or tail of what it is supposed to signify. I would be obliged to give Mystic River 7/10 – it is exceptionally well-made and well acted – but I do feel the very odd ending spoils it all rather too much. Hence my rating. The average rating of 8/10 is fair enough if you want a rattling thriller, but rather OTT if you're a little more discerning. The odd ending does spoil it all rather too much.