Eastwood's 'Mystic River' falls short of expectations

Actor-director Clint Eastwood's latest and most ambitious endeavor, the critically acclaimed "Mystic River," shoots for the stars and, while striking some compelling cords, finds itself soaked in a stream of flaws.

Though Eastwood (director of "Space Cowboys" and "Unforgiven" in addition to a long and distinguished acting career) has managed to attract an all-star cast whose performances often outshine a weak screenplay and over-stylized directorial style, the film's foibles keep it from reaching the level of a masterpiece which it, superficially, has all the trappings of.

"Mystic River" tells the story of three now-separated childhood friends, Sean, Jimmy and David, and the way in which their lives in working-class Boston are suddenly brought back together by tragedy. Jimmy (Sean Penn of "Dead Man Walking" and the upcoming "21 Grams") is the rough-edged organized criminal willing to stop at nothing, especially his morality, to seek his vigilante form of justice for his murdered daughter, Katie.

Sean (Kevin Bacon of "A Few Good Men," "Animal House" and "Apollo 13") is a soft-spoken and compassionate cop investigating the murder and recovering from his wife's leaving him six months prior and her periodic dead-silent line phone calls from mysterious parts of the country. Dave (Tim Robbins of "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Dead Man Walking") is a troubled soul who was abducted as a child and comes home late the night of Katie's murder, covered in blood.

The intrigue is palpable from the first scene of the film. All of the actors give superb performances. Most moving is Robbins whose facial and body language speak far louder of his inner anguish than any of haunting statements written for Dave.

Penn's remorseless wrath shows the wisdom of his skillful method-acting style. In supporting roles, the film's two leading ladies each play deeply different characters with equal precision. Laura Linney ("The Truman Show") plays a quiet Lady MacBeth to Jimmy whose ruthlessness is disturbingly seductive. Marcia Gay Harden ("Space Cowboys" and "Pollock") plays Dave's fragile and frightened wife who, through her weakness, commits a sin she can never forgive herself for.

Thematically, the film achieves some of its goals as well. Questions of revenge, vigilantism and psychological demons force us to ponder our own darkest sides. More broadly, the film confronts the theme of personal responsibility and individual initiative. By showing us the tragic and destructive consequences of passively allowing the past to condition one's future actions, "Mystic River" strikes an important note of empowerment in an age where films too often encourage a mentality of victimhood and abdication.

Despite these substantial strengths, the film falls far short of its potential through a series of contrivances and weaknesses that, when taken together, undermine the film's overall power. The film relies too heavily on the snappy, packaged-to-go dialogue, so common on evening television programs like "Law and Order," detracting from the realism of situation and the audience's ability to suspend disbelief.

In some places, directorial hiccups move dialogue from over-scripted to awkward as master actors endure strange pauses likely attributable to Eastwood's ostensibly deviant sense of timing.

Contrivance penetrates far deeper into the film. Plot follows a perfectly structured narrative that is so wildly improbable as to spoil much of the suspense it works so hard to create. The film's surprise ending is of the weakest sort: at the same time predictable and inexplicable from and inconsistent with the impressions given throughout the first part of the story.

The film's soundtrack is also weak, with music that is frustratingly overdone in many parts and poor accentuation of the actors' speech that often leads to confusion in key parts of the film. The screenwriting loses points in some other minor areas as well. Dave's childhood experiences could be further explicated and Linney's fascinating character could use more exposure prior to the final scenes of the film.

Character motivations are too often left in the shadows more than is necessary or useful, especially in such a long film. Which brings me to what is probably the film's most glaring flaw: it is simply unable to fill its dragging two and a half hours with consistently engaging material.

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Despite these criticisms, if you are looking for a film to see and have two and a half hours to devote to it, "Mystic River" is not a bad choice and will give you quite a bit to discuss with your date as long as it takes to move past conversation.

Whether the film is worth a trek down to the UA Market Fair Movies, where it shows 12:30, 3:45, 7:05, and 10:10 p.m. every day, is likely a function of how accessible a car is (freshman despair).

The eminently reasonable $5.50 it will take out of your wallet, if you bring your prox, should not be much of a deterrent to forming your own opinion of this though-provoking, if a bit contrived and slow, critical hit.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 paws.