Rating: 
Summary: grim and sublime
Review: Mystic River is an interesting movie to say the least. There were a lot of questions left unanswered. But I think that was the partly the point - that there are alot of questions about life that go unanswered or are in fact unanswerable. Indeed I think the title Mystic River is probably the most fitting for a movie of this kind. There really was no clear distinction of right and wrong. Religion played a curious role: there was the incident with the catholic priest and the young boy that set the stage for the movie; there was the church event where the daughter of Sean Penn's character was suppose to attend; and there was the big tattoo of a cross on the back of Sean Penn's character. All this religious imagery and allusions shed little light on the moral of this story, if there was any. In fact, it probably revealed religion to be nothing more than a convenient cover for much that is wrong with humanity. The one redeeming moment in this movie is Kevin Bacon's character finally apologizing and reconciling with his estranged wife. And perhaps this could be taken as the lesson one should take from this movie. To paraphrase what Sean Penn's character said, sometimes things happen in life and nothing you do can ever change or erase what happen. True, but one could always forgive or try to make the best of what still remains.
Rating: 
Summary: 2 stars for Clint
Review: I have great respect for Clint Eastwood as a director but if you already saw Sleepers then you can happily skip this movie. It's dull, slow and Sean Penn does the worst Robert DeNiro imitation I have ever seen.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling and Thought Provoking - Worth every penny
Review: After hearing rave reviews about Clint Eastwood directed movie MYSTIC RIVER, I decieded to shell out a few bucks to go see it. My first impression of the movie was a little confusing, but after a moment of assessment I realized that Mystic River was more than just another thriller...This was a GREAT movie! First off, the acting was incredible. Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins, who play the three men who grew up together in downtown Boston, all did a outstanding job. Laura Linney, playing as Penn's faithful wife, also did a wonderful job. The looks Robbins gave truley appealed to his outcoming schizophrenia personality and Penn's street style and family devotion makes you think twice. Mystic River also delievered a fresh dose of reality without the usual Hollywood melodramactic approach. It made the mind ponder something else besides "Oh, I'm glad they got the bad guy, YEAH!" MR also did a brillant job of including unexpected humor throughout the movie to show that even good dramas can have a sense of humor. Learn about love, family, friendship, and even some things you were afraid to think about. GO SEE THIS MOVIE. If you do not like it on the first run, see it again, trust me.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: Deep, sometimes dark but always compelling, this great film had me wound around its finger almost from the start. It is an absorbing reflection of the life with which we live, including the violence, the heartbreak, the decisions that get tougher as we get older. Sean Penn has come into his own. Tim Robbins is nothing short of brilliant. The pace is perfect, the characters more than believable. This is one of the best movies I have seen in years.
Rating:
Summary: Major disappointment
Review: Viewer's of this film would be wise to not let the superficial twist at the end of the movie entice them or be awed. There is some major flaws that other reviewers have hit upon. I'll just say that it seemed pretty obvious to me that whoever wrote this story never created 'the mute' during early versions, and discovered that he (the author) had no ending and superficially imposed this undeveopled character to tie things up. It's really lame. Probably there was a time when Tim Robbins character was the evil party for the crime emphasized throughtout, but rather than milking this for meaty insights, he is turned into a flimsy character who comes away very inconsistent and...dead, still. I really wanted my money back after this one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent anti-entertainment.
Review: Dont get me wrong - I enjoyed the movie, however the film is more likely to frusterate/offend viewers with its excessively graphic violence (particularly in one scene) as well as the bleak, albeit realistic ending. As Clint Eastwood said in an interview, this is a movie about how evil begets evil, and it is indeed a great observation with respect to that topic. Not only does it attack the subject of evil through violence, but the more complicated and subtle topic of evil through apathy, (hence the ending). I would be hardpressed to pick a favorite between this and the unforgiven, but this at very least runs a close second. Clint aside though, this movie has some of the finest acting I have seen in a very long time, especially by Tim Robbins. I really just cant say enough about this movie, so I'll just stop, and say "stellar achievement!"
Rating: 
Summary: a very good film
Review: This is not a crowd-pleasing, happy film, but it is a very fine drama and is rightly winning many accolades for the cast and Clint Eastwood's directing. Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Marcia Harden are very convicing and give among the best dramatical performances that we have seen this year and of their own careers. Laurence Fishburne is his usual cool and intelligent self. What little violence there is in the film is never gratuitous. The film is more focused on the consequences of weakness and the vulnerability of human nature when facing injustice and devastation. Eastwood's direction combined with the screen play, which was based on Denis Lehane's novel, results in genuine tension, atmosphere, and subltety, expertly weaved and balanced together. I'm not sure if the performances are truly Oscar worthy, when I think of last year's nominees and winners like Adrien Brody and Daniel Day-Lewis. The story doesn't seem ingeniously original but is rather familiar. One critic has compared it to a Greek tradgedy.
Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Modern Classic!!
Review: My Fiancé and I like to watch LAW AND ORDER on TV. She spends the whole episode trying to figure it out the mystery. I watch the opening moments, meet all the characters, and think about it for a moment and of course I call the outcome 90% of the time. It doesn't mean that I don't enjoy sitting through a good mystery. It's just after a while it becomes more difficult for me not to figure out what happens in the end. That's the problem I had with Clint Eastwood's (Blood Work) new film MYSTIC RIVER. It's a riveting and tense thriller, it's one of the best films of year and of course I went and ruined it for myself by figuring out the outcome about an hour before the movie ended. Was it the "Old Economy of Characters" that made it so easy? Not really! I think it's just the film has one logical ending and if you miss the clues you'll kick yourself in the head. The story follows three friends in South Boston. They are Jimmy (Sean Penn, I Am Sam), Dave (Tim Robbins, Bob Roberts), and Sean (Kevin Bacon, Wild Things). As kids, Dave was kidnapped and raped by some guys dressed liked cops, they kept him in a dirty cellar for four years until he escaped. He got home but he never quite recovered. Jimmy grew up to be a petty thief, served two years in prison, and is now a legitimate shopkeeper is his neighborhood, and Sean is now a detective with a marriage that's almost non-existent. These three friends are forced to come to grips with their friendship when Jimmy's daughter (Emmy Rossum, Songcatcher) winds up murdered. MYSTIC RIVER is about the sins of our past, mistaken identities, and those small moments that change our lives forever. It's about what ties us all together, how we face our demons, and the bonds of friendship and family. It's also about flawed people forced to face the demons. It's probably the best-acted film I've seen all year. Sean Penn gives the performance of a lifetime. I finally forgive him for the travesty that was I AM SAM and I'm hoping that he moves on as well. There is a powerful moment, as he must tell his wife (Laura Linney, The Life of David Gale) that his daughter (From a first marriage) is dead. The two of them look at each other for a moment and then embrace. This kind of scene is very rarely powerful, in most films it's almost laughable, but all I could think was "Wow!" For once it wasn't mucked up. For once a director allowed raw power to move a scene and not harsh swelling music. Clint Eastwood has proved once again that with the right material he can direct a film that is smart and well told. He has a very shaky track record, for every UNFORGIVEN, there are messes like TRUE CRIME and BLOOD WORK. MYSTIC RIVER is better than UNFORGIVEN, but these two films will be considered classics. I liked MYSTIC RIVER. I liked how it unfolded. I just wish I could have shut my brain down because I hate it when I call the end of a good mystery. It reminded me of the moment when I called the end of THE OTHERS. Of course I loved the film, but I felt cheated by my own cleverness. I sometimes wish I could enjoy a movie like the masses. But since I can't, I will sing MYSTIC RIVER'S praises, and beseech the Academy to nominate Penn for this performance, he deserves it. So, If you're looking for a taught thriller with lots of mystery give MYSTIC RIVER a chance. It's well worth two hours of your time. ****1/2 (out of 5)
Rating:
Summary: Heard one thing, saw another
Review: I went to this movie because I saw an interview with the director, Clint Eastwood, on Charlie Rose and the former said this movie was a study on how evil begets evil. Obviously if one really wants to get at the nuts and bolts of such topics, you read literature but I figured it's Clint, he's old, he must have at least one insight or two on the subject worth checking out. Well he didn't. In fact, the murder that is dealt with continuously ends up being committed by a very minor character who the viewer is never treated with any insights into. The notion of this character having anything to do with the plot borders on nadda until the last 2 minutes of the movie - typical Hollywood. (When will we learn!) But anyway, to make matters worse, when the cop at the very end finally brings up the criminal's motive for the murder it boils down to toying around with a gun he didn't think would go off. Geez!
There are other people involved who might hint at evil being beget, but here lies absurdity to. Tim Robbins character is the great 'doesn't work' character. If you know anything about plotting you know that the greater the plot, the more sacrifices are made in character development. Case in point, Tim. Is he a complete moron or not? (That's the profound question of the movie.) He gets himself in so deep and allows for himself to be misunderstood. Geez! And the viewer can even tell that Tim knows where things might be headed. (For he has the evil background.) ANd yet, he plays stupid and dies because of it. If communication had played a slightly bigger role for him and there had been less plotting, which oddly enough there is room for with Tim's character since he isn't the criminal, then we would have a more lifelike film.
CLint is by no means a director intent on studying evil. He's just old and senile.
Rating:
Summary: Hugely overrated; poorly written
Review: There are several reasons why MYSTIC RIVER is a deeply flawed film, but perhaps the most important is that the story and characters leave me cold. This is a crime story with pretensions to literature, but most of it is less engaging, and intelligent, than an average episode of Law & Order. The characters change in abrupt ways that are weird and inconsistent. Much of the script is tin-eared. Several scenes don't work or are simply dumb: the one with a character talking about vampires; the bizarre scene in the bedroom just before the parade; an interrogation in which the suspect's "cleverness" is something a 10-year-old could have seen coming (but the cops didn't); a cloying and tedious serial cell phone reconciliation; and so on. Things either come out of leftfield or are obvious, and this makes for a very unpleasant experience. The cast act down to the material, and I can't think of a single genuine person in the whole picture (although Penn's scene at the park was fairly powerful). Eastwood seems to have a habit of getting huge hype for mediocre films: (...)
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