DVD Movie Review - Mystic River

Clint Eastwood is the quintissential American actor. He is also one of the finest directors to ever make a movie. Of the 28 movies he has made, look down the list, Play Misty for Me is the first one out of the blocks in 1971 and here he is 33 years later, averaging a little under one movie a year. Along with starring as an American icon in 35 movies in the same time. This man's body of work is truly amazing.

Mystic River shows that Clint is getting better, if that's possible. The reivews of this movie that I read all said that the plot was "plodding." Well I say, BS. Clint put the scenes in this movie that needed to be there.

Oh yeah, he also wrote the music. Clint uses music in movies better than anyone. I like the way Quinton Tarrantino uses music in movies. Particularly Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. But, Clint is the king here too. He made a biopic of Bird starring Forrest Whitakker that is simply amazing.

Mystic River is the story of three men who were boys together. The movie starts with an episode that tells the story of how one of the boys was abducted while the other two watched. The abducted boy grows up into the Tim Robbins character. The other two boys grow up into a detective (Kevin Bacon) and a neighborhood store owner (Sean Penn). The event that triggers the action in the movie is the murder of Penn's daughter. Guess who the detective who catches the case is? No fair peeking.

Kevin Bacon. Well, it could happen. Yeah but then there wouldn't be a story now, whould there? And you would have to go back to productive work instead of reading my reivew. So there.

Needless to say, there are twists and turns before Kevin Bacon wraps up the case. But, you know, when a teenaged girl gets killed there just aren't any happy endings. My only complaint is that the ending wasn't unhappy enough.

About the actors. Do a mental experiment. Of Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins, and Sean Penn, imagine each one acting in the role of the other two. How many combinations do you have? Or is it permutations? Just kidding. But seriously, Kevin Bacon is the only actor of the three that I could have imagined credibly playing the other two roles with no loss of credibility at all.

Yet, Penn and Robbins got the Oscars. How do you figure? Could it be that they are outspoken LEFTIES?

Kevin Bacon is my new choice to play Harry Bosch if Micael Connelly ever sells the rights to his books.

The women in the movies are there to react to the three men. Bacon's wife left him and lives in NY. Robbin's wife is played by the lovely Marcia Gay Harden. Penn's wife is played by Laura Linney. I thought both women effectively played their roles and I truly did not recognize Linney until I saw the credits roll.

About the screenplay. I remember when L.A. Confidential came out. I was excited. But, DAMN, how are they going to put that into a movie that is less than five hours. Brain Helgeland came to the rescue, cut out a whole plot line and tied two threads together and the result was a really tight movie. I notice from IMDB that Helgeland and Eastwood worked together before in Bloodwork, an adaptation from my favorite mystery author, Micheal Connelly.

I am going out and buy Dennis Lehane's novel that Helgeland adapted for this movie.

For you, I recommend that you rent this movie. It is worth your time.