Mystic River (2003)

I kind of hated the whole thing.

The book is miles better. It's a fairly decent straightforward adaptation (obligatory Gone Baby Gone is better mention), but they left a ton of wonderful stuff out, especially this great scene with Jimmy in the bathroom near the end.

I hated the ending of this film.

Hated it like I haven't hated a films ending before or since in years. It made me so angry I walked out of the film shaking.

I saw the film as giving cursory approval to the murder of an innocent man and my sense of justice took such a battering I doubt I'll ever watch it again.

It's totally not, but okay.

I'm not even an enormous fan of the book but this movie was an embarassment. Sean Penn works in my opinion, but most everything else fails. Robbins somehow overacts the idea of disappearing into one's shell and at times made me wonder if he was playing the character as mentally handicapped. Kevin Bacon is just blank, he adds nothing to a role that to be perfectly fair did seem underwritten to me compared to the character in the book.

It's funny, when I heard Clint Eastwood directed this and I started reading the book I kind of pictured Eastwood playing Bacon's role. Isn't that character written as older?

Well between Penns wife telling him what a good man he after she knows he's killed the innocent Robbins and Bacons cop seemingly more interested in being back with his wife after he knows Penns killed the innocent Robbins, I personally beg to differ.

Bacon knows that Penn killed Robbins and that he's going to go after him. That's what the finger gun is. Jimmy doesn't give a shit, but at that point he's sold his soul, hence the "come and get me." Also, it's made pretty clear through the film up to that point that Laura Linney is crazy, or at least "not a good person." Which is why her speech to him is often called the "Lady Macbeth" speech. It's not meant to be approving of anything -- that character is just as bad as Jimmy.

...and the wifes speech?

Penn's look after Bacon gives him the "finger gun" is that of "Yah? What are you gonna do?" or a "Whatever man. You got nothing."

Which is true. Bacon had nothing on Penn. He could bring him in and question him but really he had nothing. I'm aware Bacon knew Penn killed Robbins but he had no evidence. I had an incredibly hard time trying to explain this to IMDb board posters so I've lost the care to do it ever again.

And Mystic River seems to get hate 'cause Penn beat Bill Murray just like how MDB gets hate 'cause Clint beat Scorsese. And Laura Linney's speech comes off "better" in the book.

I even thought Penn was terrible in this movie. He was so heavy handed and awkward. Kevin Bacon is the only winner in the whole thing.

I freely admit I had a really hard time ignoring my moral compass while watching this for some reason. As a consequence I found Linneys speech to be fucking appalling.

I thought there was enough good stuff in Mystic River to recommend it. I especially liked the fact that, although most of the film wasn't very subtle, it didn't beat the audience over the head with the notion that Penn's violent history led to his daughter being killed. It certainly doesn't attempt to justify or even qualify any of the violence. The point is all of it leaves a corrosive legacy.

I felt the same way, RD. Maybe not to the same degree, but I definitely left with the impression that the movie had condoned Penn's actions to an uncomfortable degree.

See: Lady Macbeth.

I liked this movie a lot, but thought Robbins and Bacon were both miscast. It would have worked better had they traded roles ... I think Bacon does "crazy" better, while Robbins works best playing restrained characters.

The film seems incomplete, almost like a first act in a three-part story. Mystic River plays like an "origin" story for a villain. I'm interested in seeing what happens next ... did Lehane ever follow this story up?

Oh, I don't know, I thought Fishburne came out okay. I'd be happy to see a movie built around Whitey Powers, Jive Homicide Detective.

Very well directed, but to be honest the thing which stuck with me was the great use of music. Loved the theme or leitmotif which runs throughout the whole thing, reminds me a lot of Bedrich Smetana. I prefer Sean Penn as a director than as an actor but I actually loved him in this. That sequence where he's rushing across the field to see his dead daughter is really powerful and he really sells the emotion in those first two acts. The third act is just horrible though and it doesn't help that Robbins plays a key character really subtly. He keeps his emotions so close to his chest that he's a cipher by the time we get to his death and it kind of robs the film of its power. 

That's how I interpreted it too, I never saw the movie as condoning what happened.

 

Granted that I've only seen this once, and it was 7 years ago, but my impression was not at all that the film "approved" of killing Robbins' character, but that it was tragedy compounded by tragedy.

Personally- this film is just so middle of the road it infuriates me.

 

Sure the subject matter is grim but the cast seem to be sleepwalking. I dont buy Penn as a borderline genius neighbourhood thug for one second, and his grief is played far too 'showy' for my tastes.

 

I give props to Robbins, but agree his character is too much of an enigma for us to feel too much for him.

 

The book was far more subtle and heartbreaking. Is it just me or does anyone else remember Penn's character feeling a lot more guilt over his friends death in the book?