Main Cast:
Sean Penn - Jimmy Markum
Tim Robbins - Dave Boyle
Kevin Bacon - Sean Devine
Laurence Fishburne - Sgt. Whitey Powers
Marcia Gay Harden - Celeste Boyle
Laura Linney - Annabeth Markum
Kevin Chapman - Val Savage
Tom Guiry - Brendan Harris
Emmy Rossum - Katie Markum
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The story starts with the three main characters – Jimmy Markhum (Sean Penn), Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins) and Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) playing in the street. A car pulls up and two paedophiles dupe Dave into getting into the car under the pretence of going to see his father for defacing wet concrete. Thereafter follows days of abuse at the hands of the seedy pair. However, Boyle escapes left with the mental scars of what happened during those fateful days.

The catalyst for the story is the brutal murder of Devine’s teenage daughter. Whilst walking home late one night, it appears that she has been sexually assaulted and strangled by an unbalanced assailant. Markhum is assigned the case and when the spotlight falls on Boyle as the possible murderer, the three paths collide with catastrophic consequences.

Sean Penn and Tim Robbins won Oscars for their roles whilst a string of other nominations made the movie a much heralded success. For me personally, Tim Robbins steals the show. His depiction of a tortured soul, still living the nightmare many years on is both chilling and worthy of the audience’s empathy. The visual analogy of living and escaping from wolves compounds the substantial scars left on his psyche and the emergence of the man from the physically and mentally maligned boy is played out with many a sideways glance as the adult Robbins has little confidence left to look people in the eye.

Sean Penn’s Oscar was equally richly deserved I’m sure although his likeness to Robert De Niro both in acting style and appearance took the edge of his performance for me. Established as the local gangland boss, his is a display full of anger and violence with no small amount of prejudice that creates that cold edge to his character. His dislike of one of the local boys proves one of the movie’s biggest ironies and contributes to the film’s rapier sharp twist at the finale.

If that wasn’t enough we get Fishburne playing a tough, sharp detective completely oblivious to the brooding threat posed by Penn and on top of game enough to implicate the unfortunate Robbins. More renowned for his part as Morpheus in the Matrix trilogy, Fishburne proves again what a fine actor he is.

The shooting of the film on location in Boston lends a great deal of authenticy with the eponymous Mystic River often in the background and playing a part in some significant scenes. I’m sure there is a metaphorical significance to both the title of the film and the fact that the river flows through all three lives from starting reel to finish whilst the central tenet of the movie around burying our sins to wash them clean is reflected in the number of times the river is used to underline the symbolism of what the story is all about.

I suppose comparisons are inevitable and when trying to distil the various characteristics of Mystic River, you’d have to consider elements of classic, updated gangster flicks like “Goodfellas”, the cinematography of “Road to Perdition” and a thoughtful helping of the legendary Sam Mendes. If you enjoy thrillers full of fraught tension acted out with panache and guile then this will be a movie you will relish. For me, this was the best movie of 2003.