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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: Mystic River (2003)
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| Robin Clifford |
 Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2003 4:42 pm |
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Guest
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"Mystic River"
Three boys - Jimmy, Sean and Dave - are playing hockey
on their street when the ball goes down a storm drain.
With nothing else to do, they decide to scratch their
names into some fresh cement just laid down to repair
the sidewalk. Suddenly, an authoritative voice behind
them demands to know what the hell they are doing and
a man, with a badge and handcuffs on his belt, takes
one of the boys, Dave, in his car "to tell his mother"
what he did. The boy is not seen again for four days,
until he escapes the pedophiles, and hides within
himself, ever since, his horrific story. Now, 25 years
later, the former friends are joined again when
tragedy strikes and the daughter of one is brutally
murdered in the screen adaptation of Dennis Lehane's
novel, "Mystic River."
Clint Eastwood caused quite a stir in the greater
Boston area when he came here for principle
photography of his interpretation of Lehane's tale.
Wherever he went and set up his cameras was treated as
a festive event and Mr. Eastwood garnered much good
will. The result shows in his latest work as he takes
the complex, psychological story and, with Brian
Helgeland's script, tells the author's story.
The horrors that young Dave experienced through his
captivity has been indelibly imprinted on his mind and
older Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins) lives with the
nightmare every day. He goes to a bar, alone, one
Saturday night and sees Katie (Emmy Rossum), his
former friend Jimmy's (Sean Penn) daughter,
celebrating with her friends. Later, two things
happen: Dave returns home after 3:00 AM covered with
blood. He tells his wife, Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden)
a story about a mugger attack and that, possibly, he
killed the man. Next morning, there is not a word in
the paper about a dead, beaten body being found. There
is a brouhaha going on with the police investigating a
missing 19 year-old - Katie.
The third of the friends, Sean Divine (Kevin Bacon) is
a state police homicide detective assigned to
investigate and is there when the girls battered and
bloodied body is found. He must break the news to
Jimmy Markum, with a promise to find the killer. The
tail that Eastwood weaves is an intricate combination
of emotions where Dave stopped living and began a
tortured existence. Jimmy, an ex-con who was in prison
when his wife died of cancer, came out of prison in
mortal fear of his young daughter and grew to love and
adore her, sometimes to the detriment of his second
wife, Annabeth (Laura Linney) and their two younger
daughters. Sean, too intensely involved in his job,
pushed his wife away and has been estranged for six
months.
This victims-of-circumstance crime yarn betters the
book in a number of ways. I never got the feeling that
the book was based in Boston. It felt generic and
Eastwood, with his locations, second unit photography
and credible efforts getting Boston accents from his
talented actors really puts the Bostonian spin on
things. The actors give dimension to each of the
characters they portray, down to the small cameo by
Eli Wallach as an elderly liquor storeowner.
Sean Penn is best as the volatile Jimmy who has a
violent past and is willing to do deadly harm if he
deems it the "right" thing. Tim Robbins does a decent
turn as the troubled Dave, though he delivers it
mostly with furrowed brow and furtive eyes. Kevin
Bacon is adequate as detective Divine but, as in the
book, his character is the least fleshed out of the
three leads. Where "Mystic River" also shines is with
its fine and large supporting cast. Laurence Fishburne
gets notice as Sean's partner, Whitey Powers. Marcia
Gay Harden gives a notable performance as Dave's wife
Celeste, who is a catalyst for the events that
transpire. Laura Linney, as Jimmy's wife, plays
Annabeth well as the woman who knows that Katie was
the most important thing in the world to Jimmy but
makes damn sure, no matter what, he thinks of her and
his two other daughters. Also notable are Kevin
Chapman and Adam Nelson as the loose cannon friends of
Jimmy, the Savage brothers.
Techs are first rate all around and Eastwood directs
cast and crew with a deft hand. It's a rare thing when
you like a movie better than the book. I give it a A-.
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
robin@reelingreviews.com
laura@reelingreviews.com
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X-RAMR-ID: 36014
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1206826
X-RT-TitleID: 1126042
X-RT-SourceID: 386
X-RT-AuthorID: 1488
X-RT-RatingText: A- |
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