Product Details

• Actors: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Emmy Rossum, Laura Linney
• Directors: Clint Eastwood
• Writers: Brian Helgeland, Dennis Lehane
• Producers: Clint Eastwood, Bruce Berman, Judie Hoyt, Robert Lorenz
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: June 8, 2004
• Run Time: 137 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (446 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001ZX0OC
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,730 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Superior acting, writing, and direction are on impressive display in the critically acclaimed Mystic River, Clint Eastwood's 24th directorial outing and one of the finest films of 2003. Sharply adapted by L.A. Confidential Oscar-winner Brian Helgeland from the novel by Dennis Lehane, this chilling mystery revolves around three boyhood friends in working-class Boston--played as adults by Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, and Kevin Bacon--drawn together by a crime from the past and a murder (of the Penn character's 19-year-old daughter) in the present. These dual tragedies arouse a vicious cycle of suspicion, guilt, and repressed anxieties, primed to explode with devastating and unpredictable results. Eastwood is perfectly in tune with this brooding material, giving his flawless cast (including Laura Linney, Marcia Gay Harden and Laurence Fishburne) ample opportunity to plumb the depths of a resonant human tragedy, leading to an ambiguous ending that qualifies Mystic River for contemporary classic status. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
Clint Eastwood's sombre masterpiece, from a novel by Dennis Lehane (Brian Helgeland did the adaptation), is about a working-class Catholic community in Boston held in thrall by an old crime. Back in the seventies, one of three eleven-year-old boys who were close friends was taken away by two men pretending to be cops and sexually assaulted for days before he finally escaped. But it turns out that Dave (Tim Robbins) never escaped at all. Twenty-five years later he is still shrouded in dreams and terror, and his two friends, Sean (Kevin Bacon), a homicide detective, and Jimmy (Sean Penn), an ex-con who runs a corner grocery, still feel the shame of not helping him. When Jimmy's nineteen-year-old daughter is murdered, the three are uneasily brought back together again. The movie's feeling for the neighborhood milieu is so convincing because there's no distinction between background and foreground-everything we see (faces, living rooms, back yards, weather, battered old cars) is dramatically relevant. Eastwood directs in a gray, end-of-day light and with a minimum of camera rhetoric; he lets the script and the actors do the work. Kevin Bacon tightens his facial muscles into a mask; Tim Robbins looks puffy and frightened; and Sean Penn does a few semi-psychotic soliloquies in which he takes off into the stratosphere, joining Marlon Brando as one of the great tragic actors of the screen. With Marcia Gay Harden and Laura Linney, both in devastating form. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For my money, Clint Eastwood's gave a crowning achievement as a director,, March 10, 2008

By	Jenny J.J.I. "A New Yorker" (That Lives in Northern Nevada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Mystic River (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

Again, I haven't read the book however the Movie does it all. I am sure there are things we all wish to forget. Moments in time in which our lives and the lives of others are altered by one singular movement, one phrase, or that one hockey shot that was just out of reach. Nothing is more true when it comes to the lives of Jimmy (Sean Penn), Sean (Kevin Bacon) and Dave (Tim Robbins). Mystic River is an emotional and amazing film about the reconciliation of three friends and their wives by the tragic murder of Jimmy's eldest daughter, Katie Markum (Emmy Rossum). This rough Boston suburb that lies on the bank of the Mystic River is thrown into sorrow and misery over the loss. Jimmy (Penn) makes a vow to find the killer of his daughter and end him and throw him into the Mystic.

The story is superb. Twists and turns and changing plot lines makes this story brilliantly unpredictable. It proves nothing is what it seems. Dealing with issues of child abduction and the effects it has on the future, Mystic River watches and deals with the change n the course of someone life. What something would be like if Dave hadn't gotten into that strangers car? Katie Markum would never had been born to be murdered.

The acting is bar none and has been recognized by the Academy by awarding Sean Penn and Tim Robbins best actor and best supporting role at the Oscars. Sean Penn was incredible in this film. He was so into his character. An angry gangster trying to move on with his life, and get out of his life of crime and deceit. To love his children and to be the best father he can be. Strong and determined, hard and angry he tries to deal with the grief of the loss of his last real memory of his late first wife. Penn is perfect in performing this role. Tim Robbins is also and incredible actor. A man who had been abused neglected. Finally admitting to himself of the abuse he felt. He kept himself bottled and up. An angry and almost psychopathic man, who is doing his best to try and overcome the terrors he experienced by hopping in the car. An ensemble cast also included: Laura Linney, Marcia Gay Haden, Laurence Fishburn.

Mystic River is truly amazing. Clint Eastwood is an incredible director. If you like Million Dollar Baby then you will simply love "Mystic River." Not to be missed.

96 of 119 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning film based on a tragic novel., November 2, 2003

By	E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Clint Eastwood's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's wrenching best-seller, "Mystic River," is a remarkable achievement. Having read the book shortly before seeing the movie, I was impressed with Eastwood's faithfulness to the letter and spirit of Lehane's story.

Sean Penn plays Jimmy Markham (Marcus in the book), a small time hood who did a stint in prison almost two decades earlier. Jimmy now owns a grocery store, is a loving family man, and seems to have given up his criminal ways. As a child, Jimmy was a close friend of Sean Devine, who grew up to become a homicide detective, and Dave Boyle, played by the wonderful Tim Robbins. Boyle endured a terrible trauma as a child, and he is tortured by horrifying thoughts that he can never escape. When Jimmy's nineteen-year-old daughter, Katie, is found brutally murdered, Sean investigates with his partner, played by Laurence Fishburne, and the lives of the three old friends intersect once again.

The stellar cast of "Mystic River" is amazingly effective. Each actor completely inhabits his or her character. Sean Penn's performance is brutal and heart-rending, and Tim Robbins convincingly plays a man on the brink of madness. Supporting these fine actors are Laura Linney and Marcia Gay Harden, as Jimmy's and Dave's wives.

Eastwood wisely shot his film on the streets of Boston, and Tom Stern's atmospheric and skillful cinematography contribute to the film's realistic and dramatic look. "Mystic River" is a powerful drama about how desperate people react when they are under tremendous emotional pressure. This mythic tragedy proves Faulkner's dictum, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." The mistakes we make and the injuries that we suffer are always with us in one way or another. Kudos to Eastwood and his fine cast and crew on making an exceptional film.

163 of 205 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystic River Runs Through Our Minds, Again and Again, November 5, 2003

By	prisrob "pris," (New EnglandUSA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Dennis Lehane wrote the book and Clint Eastwood directed the movie. It is rare that a movie is equal to the book, but in this case they are both superb works of art. Three young boys friends and playmates grow up in Southie,a neighborhood in Boston. On a summer's day, Jimmy, (Sean Penn) and Sean (Kevin Bacon) have marked their names in fresh cement, and Davey (Tim Robbins) is just about to write his name when a car drives up. A man who purports to be a detective tells them they have broken the law and takes Davey with him to tell his mom. Davey goes missing and turns up several days later after running away, a victim of sexual abduction. The friendship is no more with Davey, and he has a difficult adolescence. Years later, these three men unite after the murder of Jimmy's teenage daughter. Each man has had his tribulations. Jimmy has spent time in prison, and it appears that he remains the thug as depicted. Sean Penn gives the performance of his life. Sean became the character, Jimmy. I was
unable to take my eyes from him- he is the center of the movie- a rough, tumbled man with passion and love for his family. Sean, Kevin Bacon, has become a detective in the Massachusetts State Police. His life has fallen apart- his wife has left him and calls frequently but won't talk- what is that all about? Sean is an honest detective, an oxymoron except in his case. And Davey, Tim Robbins is rambling through life with a wife, Marcia Gay Harden and young son. Davey's wife, Celeste has a fear that Davey is responsible for the death of Jimmy's daughter. The lives of all three men and all those who surround them are intertwined in a complex maze. Did Davey murder Jimmy's daughter? Who and how is the young man who was going to leave town with Jimmy's daughter, involved with these people? Will Sean and his wife resolve their communication difficulties? This remarkable movie is a culmination of Clint Eastwood's directorial abilities. The praise that has been heaped is well deserved. Sean Penn will most certainly obtain an Oscar nomination for his part in this movie-he became the movie. The movie is indeed dark, but the message is clear. A movie well worth your time.`