Mystic River: A Quick Review

"Mystic River," released in 2003, was directed by one of the greatest American film makers, Clint Eastwood. The cast is fantastic: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laura Linney. Combine these two things with a great story/script and we get one of the best movies of the decade, in my opinion anyway. The movie takes place in Boston. Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon play Jimmy, Dave, and Sean, respectively. They were childhood friends and then years later Jimmy's daughter is killed. Dave is accused of the murder and Sean is the main cop on the case. The movie has a great cast of characters. Every actor gives a highly powerful, memorable performance which makes the movie so great to watch. Besides the great acting the plot is just an engaging mystery. It's really a fun time when you watch a movie and the actors are actually capable of acting and portraying believable characters and the screenwriters are capable of doing what their job title implies. Being the great director and Hollywood icon that Clint Eastwood is, the movie looks great and is just very well put together. The movie is over 2 hours long which usually means I stop paying attention and get antsy and really confused. But for the most part that didn't happen. Although I gotta say, it took me forever to figure out who played who in the movie. My memory really is a sad thing. So basically I loved this movie. I love the all-star cast. I love Clint Eastwood. It wasn't dragged out so much that I was angry by the end - like some movies we no longer talk about because as far as I am concerned they never happened. So rent it! Buy it for $5 at Wal-Mart. Watch it online. Do something to see it. Clint Eastwood's still cranking out great movies even into his 70s and it's a wonderful thing... This man pretty much destroys the movie efforts of most directors nowadays, many half his age, but less than half his ability. Although if you are expecting Clint Eastwood to sing in the end credits you will be disappointed as that does not occur.

-Joseph Sbrilli