Review: Mystic River

Critically acclaimed by some 90% of the big name reviewers, yet I left the movie theatre with some mixed feelings. Clint Eastwood obviously pushed the actors to give him the best performances possible, but with the story and the drama going on, it still feels like something vital is missing. The movies also feels too long (and probably is, clocking in over 2 hours), and even the end seems to be made to put us off balance. The first half is a well executed exploratory piece of drama, while the second seems somewhat predictable. Eastwood is able to get the atmosphere continuously on a level where you keep your eyebrows raised worryingly throughout the movie though. Also, Sean Penn is on an Oscar performance level here. It’s difficult to catagorise this movie, but it’s definitely not standard Hollywood, so if you’re into that, by all means, go see it.7.