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"Mystic River:" don't read if you haven't seen it, or will.

204.215.240.99

Posted by tinear on October 24, 2003 at 13:21:29

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."

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