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Movies / On DVD / Mystic River
Mystic River

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Mystic River (2003)

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Reviews Counted:191

Fresh:167

Rotten:24

Average Rating:7.8/10

Consensus: A thriller of great emotional power.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language and violence

Runtime: 2 hrs 18 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Oct 15, 2003 Wide

Box Office: $90,050,414

Synopsis: When they were kids growing up together in a rough section of Boston, Jimmy Markum (SEAN PENN), Dave Boyle (TIM ROBBINS) and Sean Devine (KEVIN BACON) spent their days playing stickball on the... When they were kids growing up together in a rough section of Boston, Jimmy Markum (SEAN PENN), Dave Boyle (TIM ROBBINS) and Sean Devine (KEVIN BACON) spent their days playing stickball on the street, the way most boys did in their blue-collar neighborhood of East Buckingham. Nothing much ever happened in their neighborhood. That is, until Dave was forced to take the ride that would change all of their lives forever. Twenty-five years later, the three find themselves thrust back together by another life altering event - the murder of Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter. Now a cop, Sean is assigned to the case and he and his partner (LAURENCE FISHBURNE) are charged with unraveling the seemingly senseless crime. They must also stay one step ahead of Jimmy, a man driven by an all consuming rage to find his daughter's killer. Connected to the crime by a series of circumstances, Dave is forced to confront the demons of his own past. Demons that threaten to destroy his marriage and any hope he may have for a future. As the investigation tightens around these three friends, an ominous story unfolds that revolves around friendship, family and innocence lost too soon. [More]

Starring: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden

Starring: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurence Fishburne, Laura Linney

Director: Clint Eastwood

Director: Clint Eastwood
Screenwriter: Brian Helgeland
Producer: Robert Lorenz, Judie G. Hoyt, Clint Eastwood
Composer: Lennie Niehaus
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Release:

Jan 8, 2008

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Reviews for Mystic River

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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American drama doesn't get any more meaty and muscular than this.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
06/13/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

The performances are uniformly superb.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
08/25/08
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Good, occasionally powerful noir that's been overhyped.

Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | comment Comment
08/05/07
Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Mystic falters occasionally, but I respect its effort and I'm happy to see Mr. Eastwood growing as a director.

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound

While not quite the equal of the novel, it's more complex, emotionally-charged and better acted than the average Hollywood thriller.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Alan Morrison
Alan Morrison
Empire Magazine

With characters that don't belong in the film and resolutions that seem mere fantasy, Mystic River never surpasses adequacy.

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment Comment
08/08/06
Wesley Lovell
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

It is in many ways Eastwood's tightest movie for some time, and certainly his darkest since Unforgiven; indeed, the ending offers as corrosive an assessment of the limits of American justice as anything in his career.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

A sprawling story that benefits from Eastwood's stripped-down approach. There are no jive talking Tarantino exchanges here, and no crowd-pleasing pyrotechnics.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
KJ Doughton
KJ Doughton
Film Threat

This is one of the finer dramas to come down the pike in some time.

Full Review Source: FromTheBalcony | comment Comment
06/21/05
Bill Clark
Bill Clark
FromTheBalcony

The film births wonderful performances from all three lead actors, as well as Marcia Gay Harden, who�s palpable in preternatural ways, Thomas Guiry as the boy in love with Jimmy's daughter, and virtually everyone else with a strip of film time.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
05/13/05
Jon Lap
Jon Lap
Apollo Guide

It's a stately, handsome-looking studio drama that, for me, never really became emotionally or intellectually involving.

Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | comment Comment
03/05/05
Ethan Alter
Ethan Alter
NYC Film Critic

... frustratingly humorless, harsh, and hollow, lacking the cohesiveness, color and convincing characterization of Eastwood's masterpiece Unforgiven.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
01/15/05
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer

Penn and Robbins, especially, are absolutely riveting in this haunting tale of lives lost.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Kansan | comment Comment
10/16/04
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

This is an involving movie that held my interest for all but the last five of its 137-minute running time, despite an ending that seems to tolerate murder and vigilante justice.

Full Review Source: tonymedley.com | comment Comment
10/07/04
Tony Medley
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com

Methodical, riveting and emotionally charged.

Full Review Source: Oregon Herald | comment Comment
08/13/04
Mark Sells
Mark Sells
Oregon Herald

Sean Penn is so frighteningly good in this movie that he outdoes even the best of his earlier work.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
08/07/04
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A fine movie but not the masterpiece you've heard.

Full Review Source: Reno Gazette-Journal | comment Comment
06/24/04
Mark Robison
Mark Robison
Reno Gazette-Journal

Eastwood's best since Unforgiven.

Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) | comment Comment
06/22/04
Judith Egerton
Judith Egerton
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Mystic River explores the quirks of fate that make us who and what we are.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
05/25/04
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com
 
 
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Latest News for Mystic River

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Their first three collaborations netted copious amounts of Oscar love and box-office receipts, so it isn't surprising that Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are in no hurry... More...

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October 19, 2006: Box Office Guru Preview: Eastwood vs. Scorsese - Round 2
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