Mystic River: Critic Reviews

A classic whodunit.

Mystic River is the rare American movie that aspires to -- and achieves -- the full weight and darkness of tragedy.

The unfashionably slow editing style and the concentration on close-ups and two-shots allow Eastwood to scrutinise his characters as they are forced to dig into themselves.

If Mystic River is just a bit overplayed, a tad too highly pitched, it still resonates with grief and fury and feeling.

A deeply textured drama in which the sins (or perceived sins) of the past weigh heavily on the present.

The film and its actors are at their best when acknowledging the tragedy of inarticulate men banging their heads against fate.

Eastwood's 24th directorial feature is his most ambitious in a decade.

A solid crime thriller.

It is an impressive movie masquerading as an important one.

Contains so many layers that you'll want to see it more than once. It's one for the memory books.

Smart, hard-charging, compassionate.

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

River leads moviegoers on a suspense-filled, sometimes painful adventure marked by great performances.

Crisply well-crafted and beautifully acted.

Too depressing to fill audiences with delight, but it does seem to validate questionable attitudes, especially an indifference to the suffering of innocent people and a willingness to shoot first and ask questions later.

The movie eloquently mourns the death of innocence and friendship. It also is a showcase for six stunning performances.

The performances are exquisite.

There is depth in this movie, and fine acting. But even more intriguing, there are questions... questions with no clear answers.

Works as a straight-up detective story, and the acting is often breathtaking.

A solid whodunit, with disturbing, provocative, take-home insights into human nature.

A masterpiece of the first order.

Mystic River is a complex, deeply ambiguous study of lifelong ties, moral accountability and the flukes of destiny.

A haunting, ambitious but ultimately flawed film that treads some of the same somber moral territory director Clint Eastwood explored in Unforgiven.

Solid, rarely showy performances, meticulously recreated detective work and moments of pure unadulterated grief accent this whodunit, a movie that will have those who haven't read the book fooled for much of its length.

It is a movie to closely watch and to savour; the confident direction and the flawless ensemble performances are, quite simply, worthy of Oscars.