Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Clint Eastwood has been an actor for years. Later in his career, he started to direct as well. He has directed several movies, and won the Oscar for best director for his work on Unforgiven. In the fall of 2003, his newest movie, Mystic River was released.

Dave, Jimmy, and Sean were playing street hockey. They lost their ball down the sewer and were writing their names in wet cement when a car drove up. A man got out, claiming to be a cop. After talking to the boys for a few minutes, he took one off in the car. Dave was missing for several days until he was able to escape the men.

Years later, the three weren’t close anymore. Sean was a homicide detective and worked in Boston. Jimmy and Dave still lived in their old neighborhood. Dave was married to Celeste, and they had a son. Jimmy owned a small grocery store. He was married to Annabeth, Celeste’s cousin. He had three daughters. Katie, his oldest daughter, stopped in the store to talk to him before she went out with her friends. Her boyfriend, Brendan, was waiting in her car for her. They were keeping their relationship from Jimmy.

Katie and her friends stopped at a few bars. Dave was at one of them and saw her. That night, Dave was late getting home and he looked like he’d been in a fight. He told Celeste that he fought off a mugger, and maybe even killed him. Celeste sent Dave off to get cleaned up. The next morning she looked through the papers for something about the mugger, but she didn’t find anything.

Katie didn’t show up to work at the store that morning. Her bed hadn’t been slept in when Jimmy looked in her room. He went in and started calling her friends, but he didn’t find her. A few hours later he went to church where one of his younger daughters was having first communion. At the same time, Sean and his partner arrived at a scene where there was an abandoned car with blood around. A search was started for the owner. Jimmy arrived and recognized Katie’s car. Her body was found nearby.

Jimmy and Annabeth had to deal with losing a daughter. Sean and Whitey were investigating Katie’s murder. Her relationship with Brendan was discovered. Celeste did what she could to help Jimmy and Annabeth. Celeste also had growing doubts about Dave’s explanations for what happened that night. One of Dave’s hands looked really bad, and he gave different explanations about what happened to different people. In addition to working on the case, Sean was also dealing with some issues in her personal life.

CAST

Sean Penn - Jimmy Markum
Tim Robbins - Dave Boyle
Kevin Bacon - Sean Devine
Marcia Gay Harden - Celeste Boyle
Laura Linney - Annabeth
Emmy Rossum - Katie
Laurence Fishburne - Whitey Powers
Thomas Guiry - Brendan Harris
Cameron Bowen - Young Dave
Jason Kelly - Young Jimmy
Connor Paolo - Young Sean

Clint Eastwood directed Mystic River. The movie was released in the fall of 2003. The movie was 137 minutes long and rated R. It was based on the book by Dennis Lehane. I haven’t read the book, though I did take a peek at the ending of the book in a store after I saw the movie. The ending was the same. This is not a movie for children. The movie is now available on VHS and DVD.

When Mystic River was released, it didn’t make it to the theater here in town. I was disappointed because I had seen previews for the movie and thought it looked good. After the movie won some Oscars in February of 2004 it finally came to the theater here and I was able to see it. I did like the movie for the most part. It wasn’t the fastest paced movie, but I didn’t think it was boring. The movie kept my interest. I didn’t expect some things that happened, though it did turn predictable near the end. I was a bit disappointed when that happened, but I still enjoyed the movie overall.

The investigation into Katie’s murder was the main focus of Mystic River. Sean and Whitey were conducting their investigation throughout the movie. They uncovered some things, including that Katie had been planning a trip with her boyfriend. Two men that were connected with Jimmy were asking their own questions and reporting to Jimmy. He was determined to find out who killed his daughter. Jimmy had been a criminal when he was younger. He’d spent a few years in jail, and once he was out, he turned his life around. After Katie was killed, Jimmy seemed to be sliding back toward his criminal past to get justice for his daughter. There was some mystery in the movie related to why Katie was killed. She was only nineteen and had no enemies. Sean and Whitey did uncover some things related to the case that were surprising to me. The reason for why Dave was so late getting home was brought up at different times during the movie. As time went on, Celeste doubted her husband’s story more, and that caused tension in their relationship. Sean was having problems with his marriage, and that was shown a few times. There was something a bit strange going on in his relationship with his wife. That wasn’t fully explored though, so I was left wondering a bit about how their relationship ended up in that state.

I enjoyed most of Mystic River. The movie was progressing along and I was very interested in what was going on. I did wonder if maybe one thing had happened, but I wasn’t really sure. Some things were shared that I didn’t expect, making certain things more interesting to me. Then later in the movie, it turned predictable. As soon as a certain conversation took place, I just knew that one character was going to do something. I don’t want to say anything too specific here and ruin the movie for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. I wasn’t happy the movie turned in that direction, and I was disappointed. The event didn’t happen immediately, so there was some build up. Maybe some people wouldn’t pick up on what was coming. It was very obvious to me, though I hoped there would be a different outcome. I thought this event was rather tragic, especially considering something else that was discovered.

Mystic River was a very serious, powerful movie. It dealt with some disturbing things and issues. Dave lived through a horrible experience as a child. It still affected him as an adult. Dave acted a little strange at times. The movie also showed how people dealt with a tragedy in their family. Jimmy had a somewhat shady past, but he loved his family. He was devastated when Katie was killed. The scenes where he identified her body and later saw her body at the funeral home were powerful and moving. Jimmy and Annabeth had to deal with a parent’s worst nightmare. Annabeth seemed to blindly support anything Jimmy did. Celeste and Dave ended up in an extreme situation as well. Something happened with Dave the night he came home late. Celeste loved her husband, and believed his story at first. As more time passed and she didn’t find anything in the papers to corroborate the story, doubts rose in her mind, which caused their marriage to suffer. The movie depicted some serious, disturbing things. There was nothing light hearted about this movie.

There was some violence in some scenes of Mystic River. Katie was murdered very early in the movie. Her murder wasn’t shown, though he body was once it was found. She wasn’t in good shape. Dave came home late looking like he’d been in a fight. It wasn’t shown how he ended up that way. There was some violence in some scenes near the end of the movie. There was a fight at one point, blood shed. The violence wasn’t extreme, but it could offend some people. I didn’t think it was a violent movie overall. People who don’t like to see movies with any violence in them should see a different movie. There was swearing throughout the movie, including multiple uses of the word that rhymes with luck. I have seen some movies that had more swearing, but people who are offended by that particular word being used may want to watch a different movie.

The acting in Mystic River was very good. Sean Penn and Tim Robbins were nominated for several awards each for their portrayals of Jimmy and Dave. They each won awards, including the Oscars they were nominated for. Sean Penn won for best actor and Tim Robbins for best supporting actor. They both gave wonderful performances, and I can see why they won the awards they did. Both were believable in their parts. Sean Penn did seem a little over dramatic in a few scenes, but it wasn’t too bad. Kevin Bacon was good as Sean. He was more subtle in his performance. He seemed to become the character. Marcia Gay Harden was nominated for the Oscar for best supporting actress, though she didn’t win. She was very good as Celeste. I’ve seen her in some other movies, but I’ve never seen her in a part like Celeste before. I think Laura Linney had less screen time than some of the other actors, but she was still very good in her part. I’ve seen her in several movies, and I have always enjoyed her performances. She worked with Clint Eastwood in the past in Absolute Power. Emmy Rossum only had a few scenes as Katie, but she was good in them. I saw her a few months ago in The Day After Tomorrow, and her part was bigger in that movie. Lawrence Fishburne was only around with Kevin Bacon, but he was good in his part too. The other actors in the movie were good too, though nothing really stood out about their performances.

CHARACTERS

Jimmy Markum - He spent a few years in jail when he was younger. He seemed to have turned his life around after he got out. He was married to Annabeth and had three daughters. He loved his family and was protective of them. He owned a small grocery store in the neighborhood. He was very upset when his daughter was killed. He wanted answers to who did it and why in a hurry, and he had a few guys going around asking questions.

Annabeth Markum - She was Jimmy’s wife. She was actually his second wife, so she was Katie’s stepmother. She seemed like she was a little fed up with some things Katie had done in the past, but Annabeth still loved her and was very upset about her death. She was very supportive of Jimmy and whatever she did.

Katie Markum - Jimmy’s oldest daughter. Her birth mother had died years before. Katie was involved with Brendan, but she kept the relationship from her father. She knew he wouldn’t approve.

Celeste Boyle - She was Annabeth’s cousin. Celeste was married to Dave, who had been a good friend of Jimmy when they were kids. Celeste loved her husband, but she had doubts about something he told her. She felt horrible for Jimmy and Annabeth and was doing whatever she could to help them.

Dave Boyle - Celeste’s husband. Dave went through something horrible when he was a child and was never the same again. He acted a little strange at times. He loved his wife and son, but he still had some issues associated with what happened to him as a child. Something happened to him one night. He seemed to be hiding something since he was giving different stories to different people about what happened.

Sean Devine - He was a homicide detective investigating Katie’s death. He had been friends with Jimmy and Dave when they were all children. Sean was focused on his job. He didn’t think certain people were involved in what happened to Katie, but he made it clear he would arrest whoever was responsible. He did defend Jimmy to his partner at one point. The friendship wasn’t close anymore, but he still seemed to have some loyalty to his former friends. He was also having some personal problems with his wife.

Whitey Powers - Sean’s partner. Whitey didn’t know Jimmy or Dave, so he had more distance than Sean did. Whitey was more ready to suspect certain people than Sean was. Whitey picked up on things.

DVD INFORMATION

Mystic River is available on DVD. There is a one disc DVD and a three disc DVD version. The one disc comes in either full or widescreen. There are no extras of any kind included on the DVD. All of the extras are on the second DVD of the three disc version. The third disc contains the movie’s soundtrack. I haven’t seen the three disc version around here, but I believe it is more expensive. So people who want the extra features have to pay more. I have seen the wide screen version that came with one disc, so I don’t know about the extras. The picture and sound quality was very good.

Mystic River was a very good movie. I was disappointed by the direction the movie took near the end, but I still enjoyed the movie. It is definitely worth seeing at least once.

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Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older