DVD Reviews

Mystic River - Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Feb 2, 2010, 14:58 GMT

$Childhood friends Jimmy Marcus (Penn), Sean Devine (Bacon) and Dave Boyle (Robbins) reunite following the death of Jimmy\'s oldest daughter, Katie. Sean\'s a police detective on the case, gathering difficult and disturbing evidence; he\'s also tasked with handling Jimmy\'s rage and need for retribution. At the same time Dave\'s awful past keeps hunting him, making him an unfortunate suspect of the crime.$

Childhood friends Jimmy Marcus (Penn), Sean Devine (Bacon) and Dave Boyle (Robbins) reunite following the death of Jimmy\'s oldest daughter, Katie. Sean\'s a police detective on the case, gathering difficult and disturbing evidence; he\'s also tasked with handling Jimmy\'s rage and need for retribution. At the same time Dave\'s awful past keeps hunting him, making him an unfortunate suspect of the crime. ...more

Mystic River flows full of death, misery, and the depths of depression. In other words, something we think of when we consider high drama. Director Clint Eastwood holds a firm hand on the tiller as he guides his cast through some fine acting and grand moviemaking.

Sean Devine (Conner Paolo), Jimmy Markum (Jason Kelly), and Dave Boyle (Cameron Bowen) are playing hockey in the street when they lose their ball down a sewer drain. In their boredom the boys take out a pocket knife and carve their names in some wet cement. Dave gets “D” and “A” written in the cement when a car pulls up.

A man gets out of the car and claims to be a police officer and chides the boys for destroying municipal property. He asks the boys where they live. Sean and Jimmy live on the street, but Dave lives a few streets over. The man tells Dave to get in the car and they’re going to talk to his mother. Sean and Jimmy watch helplessly as Dave is driven away.

The boys tell their parents what happened and everyone is confused as to why Dave would be taken away. It turns out that those men are not who they said they were, they’re predatory child molesters. Dave finally escapes their clutches, but not for four days as the scumbags have their way with him.

Twenty-five years pass, Jimmy (Sean Penn) is an ex-con that runs a corner store, Sean (Kevin Bacon) is a detective, and Dave (Tim Robbins) is a family man but is understandably off from his abduction.

Jimmy’s teenage daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum) comes to a sad end. Sean is called back to the old neighborhood with his partner Sgt. Powers (Laurence Fishburne) to investigate the crime and suspicion eventually falls on Dave.

Mystic River is a Shakespearian tale full of woe, so don’t expect much in the way of a happy ending. We primarily think of Clint Eastwood as an actor, but he’s also a masterful director as well. He’s got 24 films under his directorial belt and has rapidly become one of the best American directors working today.

Mystic River is an adult film with themes of loss (both of life and of innocence), guilt, and fate. Where the film excels is that Eastwood, being an actor as well, casts the roles with some firepower actors and steps out of the way. Both Sean Penn and Tim Robbins would step away win Oscars (best actor for Penn, best supporting actor for Robbins, with the film being nominated for best picture, supporting actress, best director, and best screenplay).

There is certainly no end to powerful performances in the piece. Bacon was forgotten by the Academy, or maybe it was too crowded and Mystic River heavily nominated, but his performance is also equally as good as his cast-mates.

At first you think that it’s an all boy’s club with our powerful male leads, but there’s also Marcia Gay Harden (nominated for supporting actress) in a role that may reflect Ophelia and Laura Linney who at first glance appears not to have much to do before getting a almost Lady Macbeth moment towards the end of the film. Everyone is put through their paces by master craftsman Eastwood and the results are astounding.

Mystic River is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.40:1). Special features include a commentary with Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon. The remaining special features are presented in standard definition. The 23 minute “Beneath the Surface” is a making of, the 12 minute “From Page to Screen” is a Bravo TV special on the film, 4 minutes of trailers, and we get three Charlie Rose shows (totaling nearly two hours) with Eastwood, Robbins, and Bacon.

Mystic River is a powerful film and features equally powerful performances. It began a string of influential films that has Eastwood’s name being mentioned with the likes of Scorsese. Those looking for a film with a happy ending are instructed to look elsewhere as tragedy is the name of the ship that sails on the Mystic River.