Rating: 
Summary: Impressive Cast but Overall an Uneven Film
Review: I had not read the Dennis Lehane novel and consequently came to MYSTIC RIVER without expectations beyond that arising from the very impressive talent line-up involved. Because of those talents I expected a great deal from the film. But I regret to say that I received only half as much as I desired.The story concerns three childhood friends, one of whom endures a trauma that breaks the friendship apart. Thirty years later all three remain in the Boston area but all three have gone separate ways: one has become a slightly shady store owner (Penn), one has become a cop (Bacon), and one has become an emotional basketcase from brooding over his nightmare past (Robbins.) An unexpected murder draws the three together once more--and dredges up guilt, bitterness, and ultimately betrayal in the process. The cast is very good, no doubt about that. But the film is very slow and I thought it was badly edited: MYSTIC RIVER would have been considerably better if thirty minutes or more had been left in the cutting room. Clearly, Eastwood is attempting to capture a sort of street-gritty sense of poetry in the lives of the characters, but he lingers over each moment a bit more than the moment will bear--and as a result the film has a repetitive quality. There is much to enjoy in the cast, but if I had the movie to see again... I don't believe I would. GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Rating: 
Summary: The Love Hate Relationship Over Mystic River
Review: With well over 100 reviews of this film logged thusfar it's plain to see that people react very differently to seeing it. Most of you agree that it's well acted. Some of you agree that it's well written and directed. I wonder how many of you have read the book? Those of us that have read it recognize how close to the book this movie really stayed, with some minor character changes, most notably the substitution of an African-American partner for trooper Sean Devine. So if you're dissatisfied with the plot or the dialog, blame Dennis Lehane. He may not have written the screenplay but you'll find most of his words coming out of the mouths of these actors. It's the poetry of South and East Boston and it spills off the pages of his book like green beer on St. Patrick's Day. This is a disturbing movie from start to finish. You're made to feel uneasy from the moment you witness the abduction of an innocent boy to the final scene as Sean and Jimmy exchange glances across the street. It's a sense that ranges from the absolute despair of a father whose daughter has just been discovered murdered in a public park to the mental illness of an adult still visited by the horrors of abuses suffered more than twenty years ago. You don't walk out of this movie uplifted. You're not supposed to. Too many of my friends were confused, even angered, by the ending to this film. "Why didn't Sean arrest Jimmy?" It was a matter of jurisdiction. Sean is a state trooper. He was investigating the muder of Katie Marcus because she was killed in Pen Park which fell under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Had she been murdered outside the park, the investigation would have been conducted by the Boston PD. Jimmy commits his crime on the banks of the Mystic River in the Boston city limits. Sean has no jurisdiction. You can speculate all you want about why Sean didn't report Jimmy to the police. Maybe he did. Maybe there was nothing to investigate. Who knows? Who cares? The story ends there. Clint Eastwood is one fine filmmaker. He may miss out on this year's Best Director Oscar because 2003 was one great year for films. In any other year he would be taking the trophy home. This is certainly the best film of his career. Sean Penn will undoubtedly win the Best Actor Oscar and Tim Robbins will win Best Supporting Actor. Not bad for a film that nobody can make up their mind about.
Rating: 
Summary: Contrived beyond belief, overacted; a meandering mess
Review: So many great criticisms have been written about this film on Amazon already: from the ridiculous plot that relies on about 20 coincidences and character's witholding crucial informaition in completely unrealistic ways -- to Sean Penn's inconsistent and overacted performance -- to the silly lady macbeth speech at the end which didn't have a frickin' thing to do with anything that came before. A lack of directoral skill seems very evident, as people are just acting up storms all around the place with nowhere to go. If the film attempted to be a trenchant look at loyalties and dynamice in a working class urban environment, it failed. If it was really trying to be a sophisticated, postmodern whodunnit -- it failed. Even the costume design (Sena Penn's Donnie Brasco jacket at the end looked ridiculous and way too Hollywood) was off the mark by leagues. This film is very infuriating becuase it makes you sit through all this "character development" and then it simply hemmorages on itself. The redeeming elements? Well at least it was about human beings and not explosions / car chases. Bacon and Fishbourne were good.
Rating: 
Summary: A dark, gripping drama
Review: "Mystic River," directed by Clint Eastwood, is a powerful drama set in Boston. The film stars Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon as three men who were childhood friends. Their lives and relationships with each other are impacted when a killing occurs. The film follows the quest to uncover the truth behind the crime. A shocking prologue sequence establishes the tone for a dark psychological crime story with plenty of twists and intriguing clues. The ensemble is truly a dream cast, and also features Marcia Gay Harden and Laura Linney as the wives of Robbins' and Penn's characters, and Laurence Fishburne as the partner to Bacon's police detective. Every one of these fine artists is at the top of his or her form; these portrayals alone make the film worth seeing. Harden and Robbins are particularly haunting as a troubled couple. Bacon brings a world-weary gravitas to his character, and has strong chemistry with the compelling Fishburne. And Penn is superb in his rich, multifaceted role. The film has a raw, gritty feel--at times it's almost like a documentary. The setting is integral to the story; Eastwood takes you into the homes, bars, and other places that these characters inhabit and really makes you feel like a fly on the wall. Ultimately, I found the film's vision extremely bleak. In a way it reminded me of the film "In the Bedroom," another crime drama with an amazing ensemble cast that left me thinking, "Superb performances and direction, but what was the point?" Still, it's a powerful tale of death, guilt, secrecy, and the quest for justice.
Rating:
Summary: Mystic River
Review: At first I didn't want to see this movie but my husband insisted, I was glad I did, EXCELLENT movie & I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A good murder mystery with a confusing ending
Review: Sean, David and Jimmy are best friends growing up in the Boston area. One day while writing their names in feshly layed cement, two men approach the boys, pretending to be police officers. Because he doesn't live on the street, young David is ordered into the car to be taken back home to his mother. Instead, he is put through four days of hell and finally manages to escape. Years later, David comes home late one night covered in blood, telling his wife Celeste a story about being attacked. Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter is brutally murdered the same night, and he begins his own investigation into her death, sometimes messing up the investigation led by Sean who now works for the Boston Police Department. Tim Robbins gives one of the finest performances of the film as the older David Boyle, a man haunted by events of the past. Marcia Gay Harden is equally fine as his wife Celeste, unsure of her husband's fragile mental state in light of Jimmy's daughter's murder. Sean Penn is good as Jimmy, but sometimes seems to go over-the-top with the portrayal of a father devastated by the murder and determined to take matters into his own hands. Laurence Fishburne and Kevin Bacon make a great team, working well as two cops on the trail of a killer. Clint Eastwood's direction is good, but he should have ended the movie sooner than he did. The entire last 10-15 minutes seem to be tacked on and only wound up adding more loose ends to the film and confusing me, especially the speech by Laura Linney, who plays Jimmy's wife Annabeth. The movie is definitely worth seeing, if only for the fine performances of Tim Robbins and Marcia Gay Harden. But, I was disappointed with the film's ending.
Rating:
Summary: What a movie!
Review: Mystic River is a dramatic film that for myself, has a dark element that you don't see in many movies anymore. With a rich cast of characters and a compelling story, Mystic River is a grand movie to watch. Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins play three friends who grew up together in a small town in the state of Massachusetts. The movie begins showing Jimmy (Sean Penn) Sean (Kevin Bacon) and Dave (Tim Robbins) as children playing in the street. When they vandalize public property two men posing as cops come and take young Dave away. Dave manages to escape the men but his life and future are forever changed. Likewise, once we see them as grown men the three have grown apart from each other. But when Jimmy's daughter is murdered he calls in his childhood friend Sean, who is now an FBI agent, to solve the case and from there the story begins to grow into a dramatic story with brilliant acting. The acting in the movie certainly stands out. Sean Penn plays his part flawlessly and Tim Robbins does a great job as a supporting actor. The story is very well developed, as are the characters. Jimmy mourning his daughter, Sean determined to find who killed her and Dave being haunted by the memory of the men kidnapping him. Clint Eastwood does a great job directing, giving the film a nice dark aura to surround it. Likewise it is a dark story and it can get depressing at times. For what it's worth Mystic River is a grand movie that stands out among many others. It's a great movie with great storytelling and the cast of characters is to remember.
Rating:
Summary: Almost as Good as the Book...Better in Some Ways
Review: It's rare that a movie is even nearly as good as the book on which it was based, but this is one of those rare occasions. Although the movie lacks some of the characters' interior life that a book can provide, the faithful visualization of the book's little world and the extraordinary performances add a dimension the book could not provide. Read the book, but certainly see the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Acting, But You May Not Like Its Brooding Mood
Review: I know "Mystic River" is a great film. It has unanimously great acting from the cast, and its gloomy mood is morbidly appealing. but you may not like it. And I didn't like it either for all its greatness, I confess. Still it's a four-star film, deserving one win of Oscar of maybe two. The story is about three ordinary kids in Boston, Jimmy, Dave and Sean. When they are 11 year-old boys, playing baseball and having fun curving their names on the street, a guy with a badge scolds them, ordering only Dave to come with him. In the backseat of the car, Dave (and we) realizes that a traumatic event is waiting for him. After 25 years later, Dave and Jimmy are living in the same neighborhood. But one daughter of Jimmy is brutally murdered, and Sean, now a police detective, comes back to his old places to meet them again. As Sean investigates the case, Jimmy is also desperately after the murderer, and Dave's wife (Marcia Gay Harden) thinks something is wrong with her husband. But what really happened, and is going to happen at the end? The story (based on Dennis Lahane book, adapted by Brian Helgeland) is nothing that can be called original, and to some, it simply looks impossible. Things turn up at the exact moment when the film wants them to happen, and the conclusion is too neatly done. And if you love to watch mystery films, it's not hard to guess the truth. The strength of the film is its actors. Tim Robbins is impeccable as a man whose tragic past haunts and torments him forever, and Sean Penn gives another great acting as a man in agony whose own personality is his worst enemy. If Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne seem a little less impressive that is because they are now outsiders of this tightly secluded community in which the two lost souls represented by Penn and Robbins keep wandering. More surprisingly, director Clint Eastwood managed to bring life to female characters, especially to Dave's wife who has to witness his husband's pains so close. Marcia Gay Harden, after her perfect turn in "Pollock," is wonderful to see though this "wonderful" means inevitably "painful." Do not watch it as a thriller; it's more about the characters. And they must all somehow or another face their destinty. But this somber tone of Greek tragedies is exactly the virtue of "Mystic River."
Rating: 
Summary: good story badly filmed
Review: interesting story--- too bad it didnt have a director--look clint eastwood can barely act---and he certainly cant direct at all-- even the actors inadvertently say it on talk shows-- what a pleasure he is to work for- he doesnt say anything--- of course u never know what hes thinking sean penn said on tv- but its ok with actors like sean penn- who doesnt need a director--- so he over acts chews up the scenery in fact--- and a perfectly good story (tho better suited to one of those numerous tv shows about murder amongst the huddled inner city masses and the heroes who solve these crimes--)is wasted on a director who also fatuously writes the boring music-- and the whole thing is so poorly filmed the dialogue is mostly mumbled and lost-- not a big deal as its nothing to write home about either----the cinematography is terrible-- the camera always seems to be in the most ridiculous places----camera angles that look so innnapropriate and amatuerish-- one i rememeber is a shot from sean peens knees--- his hands in the foreground---- dramatic ?? i dont think so !hes talking and we are watching his hands-- uhh ok- whatever--but even the costumes suck--- at one point penn has on this leather jacket and distinctly hollywood sunglasses looking way too cool and designer-ish -but definitely not the boston white trash which seems to be the milieu here- anyway dont believe the hype-- with a director directing -- this thing might have been compelling but as it is--if yer wife or someone insists like mine to see this- hang out in the lobby -see another movie---- but not of course lost in translation which was even worse !!! and both these movies are winning awards !!!!go figure !! its inscrutible -- rent THEM n see for yerself whaT A MISERy these thing s are to sit thru !
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