The Bottom Line
- Movie boasts 6 strong performances, including Oscar-winning efforts by Sean Penn and Tim Robbins
- Film nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Clint Eastwood)
- Three-disc DVD set provides supplementary materials that enhance enjoyment of the movie
- Some viewers may find the mood of “Mystic River” pervaded with too much melancholy
- Some viewers may find movie’s pacing too deliberate and not like its unobtrusive visual style
- I wish the DVD set contained more from Eastwood, screenwriter Brian Helgeland, and star Sean Penn
Description
- Three-disc set (2 DVDs + music CD) containing drama “Mystic River” (2003)
- Movie won 2 Academy Awards: Best Actor (Sean Penn) and Best Supporting Actor (Tim Robbins)
- Movie nominated for 6 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director (Clint Eastwood)
- DVD contains feature-length audio commentary by actors Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon
- DVD has 2 making-of documentaries + 3 “The Charlie Rose Show” interviews
- CD contains movie soundtrack (composed by Clint Eastwood)
- Excellent picture and sound quality
- MPAA Rating: R for language and violence
- Feature run time: 2 hours 18 minutes
- DVD release date: June 8, 2004
Guide Review - "Mystic River" DVD
“Mystic River” boasts what Clint Eastwood calls a “dream cast,” including Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laura Linney. Now this superb film is available on a three-disc set comprised of the movie and an audio commentary track on one DVD, half a dozen bonus materials on a second DVD, and the soundtrack on a music CD.
In my opinion, “Mystic River” is one of the finest films of recent years, skillfully combining story, location shooting, and performances to create a movie at the level of the best of the dramas aimed at adults released during the 1970s. The narrative engine is a murder mystery, but the film plays more like classical tragedy.
Set in Boston, the story in “Mystic River” kicks into high gear when homicide detective Sean (Kevin Bacon) investigates the murder of a 19-year-old woman. The victim turns out to be the daughter of his boyhood friend Jimmy (Sean Penn), who sets in motion his own effort to bring the murderer to justice. Caught up in this as a suspect is the hapless Dave (Tim Robbins), who as a boy was friends with both Sean and Jimmy. But it seems to me the film isn’t so much of a whodunit as it is a meditation on fundamental humanistic issues like grief, loyalty, and revenge.
The three-disc DVD set provides bonus materials that enhanced my enjoyment of the movie, but there are also two single-disc versions, one widescreen, the other full screen, that contain only the movie.
