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First off, the tragic bond of the three, which should be the key to the emotional bond, is hardly ever mentioned after the opening scene. It is left to wither, or be so understated as to be unnecessary.
Penn jumps in and out of different personalities so much you'd think he had multiple personality disorder. He didn't convince me he was grieving, aside from that VERY powerful scene in the park where he is screaming repeatedly, "Is that my daughter in there?"
Bacon seems pretty wimpy to be a tough homicide investigator; Fishburne looks almost as bloated as he does in Matrix 2---he has lots of screen time but does little with it.
Laura Linney is given some crumbs at the end, but where did her commitment come from?
It seems the point of the movie is pick a loyal wife. Poor Tim Robbins...he gets repeatedly sexually assaulted as a child, betrayed by his wife, and murdered by being gutted by his childhood friend--after already feeling woozy enough to puke. Ouch.
Disappointing work. Poor dialogue. Confused story, i.e. is it a whodunnit; a revenge; a betrayal; or a "buddy" saga?
By having the two kids come up as killers, Clint (or the writer) really copped out. And the plot device of having Tim just happen to murder a gay guy at the same (pretty much) time as Sean's daughter was being killed because her car clutch went out in front of a couple of kids who just happened to have access to a gun and were out at 1:00 in the morning....Whew. At this point, what is supposed to be a gutty slice of reality collapses in upon its own coincidencial plot devices.
But if the performances were better, all could be forgotten And, no matter the caliber of acting, the writing and direction must be at the same high level or nothing works.
They aren't. The scene of Tim's murder is way too repetitive...how many times did Sean ask him to admit it...or else?
Remember Shakespeare: "Doers are not good talkers."
Follow Ups:
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tinear,[Warning: ending revealed here- do not read this one either if you intend to see it.]
I saw "Mystic River" last evening.
I certainly liked the acting far more than you seem to have done- I thought Tim Robbins must get a least an Oscar nom- and possibly Penn. The gradual deterioration of Robbin's emotional state I thought was brilliantly done and Penn's seedy turmoil is his forte. Lawrence Fishburne however, was wasted in his minor part.
However, you're right about the story and emotional line falling apart. At the end it is clear that Bacon knows Penn has (mistakenly) killed Robbins - and probably the Ellis character- yet lets him go free!- remember Bacon making the bang-bang you're dead gesture at Penn during the parade. This was just absurd and the kind of sentimental dramatic ending that some studio committee must have contrived so that at least two of the three "soulmates" have a "happy" ending. Are we supposed to believe that Bacon thinks Robbins is better off dead and is therefore going to let double murderer Penn off?
I also agree completely that the coincidence of Robbins murder of the pedophile at the excat same time as Penn's daughter was further contrived shite that I wouldn't accept in a Charlie Chan movie.
And finally, having the real murderer of ann's daughterbe the shy mute that we almost never see is some kind of discount Agatha Christie device suitable. I'm suprised there wasn't an elegant dinner party with all the suspects and Bacon says, "the murderer is in this very room. No one noticed the Duke was wearing odd cufflinks that evening or why." Or, "Elementary my dear Dustbin. Elementary. he snake was in the tailor's bowl of soup the whole time."
"Mystic River" has the most palpable violence since "Unforgiven." It is interesting that Eastwood has this continuing fascination with the morality of murder, but "MR" has so many important plot holes and emotional short-circuits it's a canyon.
Many individual scenes were beautifully done with great acting and dialogue, but overall I was angry about the contrived plot in a movie that intended to depict gritty, working class Boston verite.
Cheers,
Bambi B
I didn't find it sentimental at all. Bacon's the only character who could be said to have a "happy" resolution. (OK, so that's a bit sentimental. Bacon is still carrying around plenty of guilt and failure in his heart. I'm glad his wife and kid came back.))Bacon is clearly NOT letting Penn off the hook. The point of his bang-bang gesture is that Bacon is literally "pointing the finger' at Jimmy, letting us and him know Bacon is going after Penn for Dave's murder. In that context the gesture isn't "absurd", it tells us and Jimmy that it ain't over, in fact, their fates are still intertwined and their story continues.
Sean just let Jimmy go? Ummmm...not exactly. Why didn't Bacon arrest Penn the morning the body was found? Because he couldn't, that's why. What evidence did he have? Nada, not even a body. (Remember, Just Ray's body was *never* found. His family - and everyone else - thought he was alive.) Sean had absolutely nothing that would stand up in a court of law. Only a veiled reference in conversation. Inadmissable.
Nevertheless, Sean's out to nail Jimmy, somehow, someday.
I thought the acting was excellent. And, although I've never read the book, I had the murderer picked out 1/3 through the movie. The clues are all there - it's tragedy of the consequences of past actions reaching into the present thing again.
The key scene here is Penn's agonized guilt over his daughter's death - he says he knows he's responsible in some way for her murder, but he doesn't know how. The movie shows us how.
Penn's acting. Never got the feeling he was a grieving dad. He seemed to jump around emotionally too much. Maybe that could be realistic, but in film, one has to create a character in only a couple of hours, with that character on screen for far less. He had many scenes, but there was no pattern. No build up. He was stronger in "Dead Man Walking." He should have gotten an Oscar for that.
"Unforgiven" is a far superior film. Shows that Eastwood, or any director, can't make a silk purse from...
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