Cady's Take:

30 years later the boys are brought back together when, Katie, Jimmy's oldest daughter is found murdered after partying one night with some girlfriends. Sean and his partner (Laurence Fishburne) are the investigating officers. That same night, Dave comes home cut up, covered with blood, with an implausible story about a mugger that he feeds to his shocked wife (Marcia Gay Harden). Dave becomes a prime suspect.

Mystic River is a powerful tale of crime, guilt, and punishment. This film is a superb character piece with phenomenal stars, Sean Penn of course, shining the brightest. He is justly regarded by many critics as one of America's top actors, and his work in this movie will only enhance that reputation. He is simply outstanding.

Some "not so great" aspects of this film are that the breaks in Katie's case occasionally feel coincidental rather than Sean and Whitey's good police work, Kevin Bacon's character is never fully developed and I was disappointed with the conclusion. Instead of ending cleanly, at the point when everything is in place for the rolling of the credits, the movie drags on for two unfortunate, unnecessary scenes.

“Mystic River” is one of those movies that is hard to review, because almost any information you give out will reveal something about the plot that should be a surprise. Jimmy, Dave, and Sean (Penn, Robbins, and Bacon) are best friends, playing street hockey in Boston when an unthinkable act changes everything. Fast forward thirty years and the men are in the same geographical location, but each has relocated his life – Jimmy, an ex-con gone straight, Dave, a quiet family man and Sean, a homicide cop whose wife just left him but is constantly calling and hanging up on him. One day Jimmy’s daughter is found beaten to death and we begin to move toward the suspects and inside Jimmy, Dave and Sean.

Without discussing further the plot points, I feel safe in saying that this movie absolutely hinges on Sean Penn’s performance as Jimmy, the grief-stricken, vengeful father. Penn (and Robbins) won Academy Awards for their performances, but Penn is particularly effective. No, “particularly effective” is too cold – Penn is gut-wrenchingly amazing and watching him discover his dead daughter will make you feel as if your nerve endings are being pulled out one at a time with tweezers.

I’m not entirely sure this would be the same movie if you pulled out Sean Penn and inserted another actor into the role. I know one of my regrets is not having read the book before I watched “Mystic River” and I look forward to doing so. While this is a well-done crime-mystery, the focus is really on the emotional depth of Jimmy, Dave, and Sean and how an old crime can continue to produce new crimes, in both a legal sense, and an emotional one.