There were some reasons for me to watch this film. It had several nominations to itself and bagged the Oscars for 'Actor in a leading role (Sean Penn)' and Actor in a supporting role (Tim Robbins)'.

Rating: Null/10 (11 November 2004)

There were some reasons for me to watch this film. It had several nominations to itself and bagged the Oscars for 'Actor in a leading role (Sean Penn)' and Actor in a supporting role (Tim Robbins)'. I was also curious about Clint Eastwoods directing.
But this film was a major disappointment. It took off well at the beginning getting you all exited for a grim tale tackling issues on child sexual molestation, tragedy later in life, coming to terms with reality and injustice. But the story starts to crumble somewhere in the middle as it starts to lose realism. The plot itself loses its surprise factor with nothing to look forward to.
It also seems as if the movie was missing several scenes explaining the background of the characters leaving us unable to relate to them. From here on the story skips and staggers to its totally absurd ending (see it yourself). Too bad this movie could have been so much more if the script was slightly realistic and the characters (played by a good cast) were given enough exposure.
Speaking of the cast, I did not see good performances by any and I think the two awards that it won should have definitely gone to people like Bill Murray or Johny Depp for Best actor and Ken Watanabe for supporting actor in their respective films.
Mystic River was also highly overrated by the Academy (and IMDb), but do go on and watch this film. See if you agree with me or not as I have seen mix comments for this movie.