| Posted by: Kavan at October 18, 2003, 11:25 pm | | Topic: Reviews: Mystic River Forum: JoBlo | | Anyone looking for a nice relaxing popcorn flick would be well advised to skip Mystic River. If however, you are interested in seeing a thought provoking, well acted and moody flick then Clint Eastwood's latest is well worth a couple of hours. The story begins with three friends Jimmy, Sean and Dave. As kids they play street hockey, write in wet cement and generally pal around. Then one afternoon a random event alters the boys lives forever. The film skips forward then to introduce us to the now middle aged Jimmy, Sean and Dave. Jimmy runs the corner market as well as other interests. Sean is a cop. Dave the boy who long ago was visiited by violence is nervous, twitchy and obviously scarred. After Jimmy's daughter is violently murdered the three men are reunited in a series of exchanges. This is as it sounds heavy, dark stuff. Mystic River plunges you headfirst into darkness and violence almost from the opening scene and rarely lets up. Even in the happier moments darkness and violence loom nearby waiting to strike. A movie like this lives and dies by it's performances and just hearing the names Penn, Robbins, Back, Linney and Harden should let anyone know they are in good hands. I was not as impressed with Penn as most critics were. I thought his performance especially in the initial scenes was to acted and mannered but at later points he is absolutely excellent. Tim Robbins on the other hand is uniformly excellent. He has in some ways the toughest role, a character that could easily fall into ticks and mannerisms. But Robbins is absolute perfection. He plays so many layers to Jimmy, I'm hoping come awards season he gets some nods this is some of the best work he has ever done. Bacon is always an excellent actor but frankly I found myself thinking his role was a little skimpy. Fishbourne actually fleshes out what could be a supporting role with great style and flair. Among the women Linney in particular stands out. She doesn't get a lot of screentime but she turns in an excellent performance. Storywise frankly the film has some real limitations. At times the Sean bits in particular feel like episodes of Law and Order and seem out of place in the flick. I got the concept of them but at times they seemed so extraneous to the meatier stories of Jimmy and Dave. Also the resolution didn't work for me, it felt a little too easy. Eastwood as a director tends to make very lesiurely flicks. Films that take their time and roam over events. Sometimes this is good, sometimes his films feel slack. Mystic River mostly avoids the slackness though it does drag a bit in the middle. Overall this is a good but not great film. The performances are excellent but I just felt the story could have been a little better than it was. Still it's an interesting, ambitious movie. 6/10 |
| |
Similar entries:
Gone Baby Gone (Spoiler-laden)
Underrated films:
why does zombie movies have to be about zombies taking over?
What the latest DVD you picked up (every one)?
21 Grams- (2003)
That Movie does NOT suck!
Underrated films:
Best Movies Directed by A-listers
MR.MOVIEMASTER..ASK AND U WILL RECIEVE
Reviews: Mystic River
|
|
Shared Movies
Over 80 Million Movies and TV-Shows to choose from
Categories:
Movie Download Movie Trailer Best Movies Thriller Movie Movie Review Romance Censorship DVD Releases Science Fiction Movie Movie News Celebrities Blooper Spoiler Action Movie TV Series Divx Movie Lord of the Ring Fantasy Movie Film Festival History Movie
Links:
Forum Extractor
|