Celluloid Heroes

Mystic River

Posted to Drama on March 19th, 2006 by Chad Everett

The acting in this drama was superb, especially from Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn. I find that as I watch more and more of Tim Robbins, I find that he has his characters nailed (he won an Oscar for his performance here) but they just don’t vary a whole lot. They always have the same off-kilter look, and they each make you wonder what is going on underneath the surface, but there just isn’t a lot of real depth. While I’m not the world’s largest fan of Sean Penn, I was impressed by his role here (he won too, deservedly so).

The thug-like character played by Penn is matched by Bacon’s police persona, and wouldn’t you know it? They knew each other as kids. As it turns out, Tim Robbins rounds at the trio as one of the friends who was abducted and abused one fine day while they were in the middle of some mischief making.

Penn’s character, Jimmy Markum, finds that his daughter is missing, and then that she is dead. Meanwhile, Bacon’s detective, Sean Devine claims the job of trying to figure out who did it - or at least find a reasonable suspect - before Markum uses his contacts to bring someone to justice.


Much of the film focuses on the loss of Penn’s eldest daughter and the process of figuring out just who killed her. One lead after another turns up empty, and exposes not only some pretty good acting all around, but a good story and an equally good directorial job (turned in by none other than Clint Eastwood - my he does a fine job behind the camera).

Time after time a promising avenue of investigation for either Devine or Markum seems to be the way that will lead to the ultimate answer, but then the other finds out about it, and it turns up empty. At the end it seems that the answer is at hand, and indeed justice is actually meted out, but it’s not exactly the ending that you’d expect, nor is it what should have been done either.

Almost strangely, there isn’t really a stand-out moment in this film. It won’t make you jump up and remember a particular moment. It’s just a fine effort all around. Not quite dark, but definitely gritty. Then again, the world we live in isn’t exactly spotless. I enjoyed the film. I don’t think I’d save it for watching later, as once you know the end there isn’t a ton of suspense to it - but certainly worth watching once.

Rated R for language and violence, and there is plenty of both here. It’s definitely not a movie for everyone, but if you can overcome the atmosphere, there’s a lot to like here.

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