Mystic River was a film I knew for years but haven't watched until now. It won 2 Oscars in the best actor and supporting role category, so I was stoked to watch this at some point.
Lo and behold, the acting from these actors were very good. Sean Penn played the tough guy mourning father incredibly well, while Tim Robbins showed his internal struggles constantly on screen. Even to the end, how Tim Robbins acted with Sean Penn in the final act was insanely well done. You can see how he struggles with the truth and how far he's willing to go to live.
Other than that, the story is a bloody mess. The movie dropped the ball so incredibly hard in the final act. One primary issue is how everything seemed to line up perfectly given the timing of events. Dave just happened to kill another man in the same time frame as Jimmy's daughter went missing, and that he just happened to be in the same bar as Jimmy's daughter as well. Of course, the story double dips on coincidental events, with Sean figuring out who actually murdered Katie around the same time Jimmy killed Dave. I understand a story is fictional and have to rely on coincidences to drive a story forward, but when you fully rely on coincidences to drive the drama of the film, it feels cheap and contrived.
There were also some questionable directing choices, like what was the point of not showing Sean Devine's wife during their mysterious phone calls? That arc was also barely explored, and it felt like it was only put there so you didn't feel as devastated after what Jimmy did to Dave.
Let's talk about the other female characters: Jimmy's second wife. The insane speech she gave at the end came from nowhere. We had no idea she was this crazy person okay with her husband killing an innocent man. We also have Dave's wife who, when directly asked by Jimmy, nodded to her husband killing Katie? This whole movie essentially was just filled with people making decisions when they're rationally not able to. It's mistakes after mistakes.
In a way, Dave's wife confessed to Jimmy because of her fear and lack of understanding for her husband. In a way, Jimmy killed Dave because of his hot-headedness and revenge-obsessed worldview. Yet, we have no explanation for why Jimmy's wife applauded him for killing an innocent man. Like, the only thing you can say about her is that she's utterly crazy, because we've given no information of who she is.
The movie also chose to end deliberately open so we don't know if Sean will eventually have enough evidence to send Jimmy to prison, and it appears a similar cycle will begin again with Dave's child when he finds out the truth. At the end of the day, Mystic River explored the irrationality of men when a devastating event occurs. It explored how violence perpetuates more violence and how some people cannot get out of this loop.
In that it succeeded in what it tried to do. However, the story relied on way too many coincidental events to push the emotional impact and behaviours of its characters, lessening the quality of the story as a whole. I believe the story would've been much better explored if it was a TV series so it can establish all the characters. Without these details, it just appears certain characters are crazy and some scenes become completely irrelevant.
Lo and behold, the acting from these actors were very good. Sean Penn played the tough guy mourning father incredibly well, while Tim Robbins showed his internal struggles constantly on screen. Even to the end, how Tim Robbins acted with Sean Penn in the final act was insanely well done. You can see how he struggles with the truth and how far he's willing to go to live.
Other than that, the story is a bloody mess. The movie dropped the ball so incredibly hard in the final act. One primary issue is how everything seemed to line up perfectly given the timing of events. Dave just happened to kill another man in the same time frame as Jimmy's daughter went missing, and that he just happened to be in the same bar as Jimmy's daughter as well. Of course, the story double dips on coincidental events, with Sean figuring out who actually murdered Katie around the same time Jimmy killed Dave. I understand a story is fictional and have to rely on coincidences to drive a story forward, but when you fully rely on coincidences to drive the drama of the film, it feels cheap and contrived.
There were also some questionable directing choices, like what was the point of not showing Sean Devine's wife during their mysterious phone calls? That arc was also barely explored, and it felt like it was only put there so you didn't feel as devastated after what Jimmy did to Dave.
Let's talk about the other female characters: Jimmy's second wife. The insane speech she gave at the end came from nowhere. We had no idea she was this crazy person okay with her husband killing an innocent man. We also have Dave's wife who, when directly asked by Jimmy, nodded to her husband killing Katie? This whole movie essentially was just filled with people making decisions when they're rationally not able to. It's mistakes after mistakes.
In a way, Dave's wife confessed to Jimmy because of her fear and lack of understanding for her husband. In a way, Jimmy killed Dave because of his hot-headedness and revenge-obsessed worldview. Yet, we have no explanation for why Jimmy's wife applauded him for killing an innocent man. Like, the only thing you can say about her is that she's utterly crazy, because we've given no information of who she is.
The movie also chose to end deliberately open so we don't know if Sean will eventually have enough evidence to send Jimmy to prison, and it appears a similar cycle will begin again with Dave's child when he finds out the truth. At the end of the day, Mystic River explored the irrationality of men when a devastating event occurs. It explored how violence perpetuates more violence and how some people cannot get out of this loop.
In that it succeeded in what it tried to do. However, the story relied on way too many coincidental events to push the emotional impact and behaviours of its characters, lessening the quality of the story as a whole. I believe the story would've been much better explored if it was a TV series so it can establish all the characters. Without these details, it just appears certain characters are crazy and some scenes become completely irrelevant.