Critic Reviews
Mystic River (2003) Rank 4 Reviews
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based on (385) reviews
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Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
To see strong acting like this is exhilarating. In a time of flashy directors who slice and dice their films in a dizzy editing rhythm, it is important to remember that films can look and listen and attentively sympathize with their characters. Directors ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Karina Montgomery
MovieFreak.com (Sara M. Fetters)
It's also the best movie made by any American filmmaker this year, and quite possible the best thing Eastwood has ever done as a director. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at MovieFreak.com (Sara M. Fetters)
Christian Science Monitor (David Sterritt)
This kind of quiet ambiguity, avoiding easy answers to complex human conflicts, is all too rare in American movies. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Christian Science Monitor (David Sterritt)
Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)
Reel Movie Critic (Shelley Cameron)
Movieman's Guide to the Movies (Andy Hoglund)
Movieman's Guide to the Movies (Brian Oliver)
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Jack Garner)
Resonates more deeply than any film this year. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Jack Garner)
Cinema em Cena (Pablo Villaça)
Dallas Observer (Robert Wilonsky)
The performances are uniformly remarkable. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Dallas Observer (Robert Wilonsky)
Denver Rocky Mountain News (Robert Denerstein)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Eleanor Ringel Gillespie)
Eastwood has handed Penn the role of a lifetime, and the actor scorches the screen with his anguish and angry vengefulness. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Eleanor Ringel Gillespie)
Sacramento News & Review (Mark Halverson)
[Eastwood] masterfully gives the story and characters their proper amount of breathing room and translates the script into fluid, fertile visual passages dripping with heart, heartache, passion, compassion and rage. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Sacramento News & Review (Mark Halverson)
Premiere Magazine (Glenn Kenny)
Clint Eastwood's latest directorial effort is perhaps the best film he's ever made. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Premiere Magazine (Glenn Kenny)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Daniel M. Kimmel)
Let’s make it simple. Mystic River is the great Hollywood studio film released this year. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Daniel M. Kimmel)
Steve Rhodes <Steve.Rhodes@internetreviews.com>
At the beginning ofMystic River, three boys are playing hockey in the middle of the street in a workingclass Boston neighborhood, batting around a ball with their weatherbeaten hockey sticks. One of them, the goalie, socks the ball away from the ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Steve Rhodes <Steve.Rhodes@internetreviews.com>
Kansas City Star (Robert W. Butler)
While seemingly a straightforward murder mystery in a matter-of-fact setting, it is never quite what it seems, and it percolates with themes and ideas of astonishing richness. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Kansas City Star (Robert W. Butler)
eFilmCritic.com (Erik Childress)
A virtuoso achievement for everyone involved whose final credits actually read “Music by Clint Eastwood”. If a more apropos coda could exist, I couldn’t think of one. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at eFilmCritic.com (Erik Childress)
FromTheBalcony (Bill Clark)
This is one of the finer dramas to come down the pike in some time. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at FromTheBalcony (Bill Clark)
Portland Oregonian (Shawn Levy)
Eastwood has crafted one of the most powerful American dramas in years. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Portland Oregonian (Shawn Levy)
Premiere (Glenn Kenny)
Perhaps the greatest, most affecting articulation of the theme Eastwood has been exploring since 1990's "White Hunter Black Heart": how violence--real violence, not movie violence--perpetrated and experienced, can erode and/or obliterate the human soul. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Premiere (Glenn Kenny)
Washington Post (Desson Thomson)
Eastwood's elegantly directed Mystic River, a deeply textured drama in which the sins (or perceived sins) of the past weigh heavily on the present. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Washington Post (Desson Thomson)
Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
A major American motion picture, an overpowering piece of work that involves some of the most basic human emotions: love, hate, fear, revenge, despair. Directed by Clint Eastwood with absolute confidence and remarkable control. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
Chicago Tribune (Michael Wilmington)
Mystic River is classic Eastwood, classic noir. If there is still some doubt about whether this one-time macho star is actually a world-class moviemaker, Mystic River should end the argument for good. One of the best American movies of the year, crisply ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Chicago Tribune (Michael Wilmington)
Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
Clint Eastwood pours everything he knows about directing into Mystic River. His film sneaks up, messes with your head and then floors you. You can't shake it. It's that haunting, that hypnotic. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
The New York Times (A.O. Scott)
Mystic River is the rare American movie that aspires to -- and achieves -- the full weight and darkness of tragedy. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at The New York Times (A.O. Scott)
Entertainment Weekly (Lisa Schwarzbaum)
Eastwood directs Mystic River with an invigorated grace and gravitas. This is a true American beauty of a movie, a tale of men and their bonds told by and for adults who value the old-fashioned Hollywood-studio notion of narrative. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Entertainment Weekly (Lisa Schwarzbaum)
Lobo Howls (Judith Wolfe)
Daytona Beach News-Journal (Fl.) (Jeff Farance)
As it ebbs and flows, Mystic adds to the Eastwood mystique. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Daytona Beach News-Journal (Fl.) (Jeff Farance)
CineMe (Daniel Meyer)
One Guy's Opinion (Frank Swietek)
Detroit Free Press (Terry Lawson)
The experience of being so absorbed in a movie and the lives of the people in it, of trusting a director and a writer and actors to take me places completely unexpected, is so rare that I savored every unexpected turn and twist. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Detroit Free Press (Terry Lawson)
eCinemaCenter.com (Gabe Leibowitz)
A tale of tragic misinterpretation, Mystic River requires deep focus into the multiple tortured souls to fully be harnessed. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at eCinemaCenter.com (Gabe Leibowitz)
Boston Herald (James Verniere)
CineMe (Daniel Meyer)
Los Angeles Daily News (Bob Strauss)
As rich and bleeding a work as [Eastwood has] ever made. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Los Angeles Daily News (Bob Strauss)
Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
A movie of startling power and intimacy. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
Eastwood's best direction since Unforgiven and arguably the best, most mature work of his career. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
CinemaSpeak.com (Erik Nason)
Dallas Morning News (Philip Wuntch)
Contains so many layers that you'll want to see it more than once. It's one for the memory books. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Dallas Morning News (Philip Wuntch)
San Francisco Chronicle (Carla Meyer)
Chilling, superbly acted. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at San Francisco Chronicle (Carla Meyer)
The Movie Chicks
DVDTalk.com (Shannon Nutt)
Bubakar Awards (Brian Owens)
Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
Xiibaro Productions (David Perry)
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" is a dark, ominous brooding about a crime in the present that is emotionally linked to a crime in the past. It involves three boyhood friends in an Irish neighborhood of Boston, who were forever marked when one of them was ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Boston Herald (David Brudnoy)
The Land of Eric (Eric D. Snider)
Salt Lake Tribune (Sean Means)
Eastwood has turned Lehane's novel into a quietly brilliant and deeply unsettling film that ranks up with Unforgiven as his best directing work. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Salt Lake Tribune (Sean Means)
watchingmovies.com (Rob McKinnon)
...a suspenseful and riveting film that’s fully magnificent.... ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at watchingmovies.com (Rob McKinnon)
Aisle Seat (Mike McGranaghan)
This is the kind of film that slowly gets under your skin, drawing you more intimately into the sad existence of the characters. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Aisle Seat (Mike McGranaghan)
AboutFilm.com (Carlo Cavagna)
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) (Jonathan R. Perry)
... bores its way in and lingers for hours, even days before we finally can come to terms with it — and ourselves. But the less we know, the more we understand. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) (Jonathan R. Perry)
Contra Costa Times (Mary F. Pols)
[An] utterly absorbing film. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Contra Costa Times (Mary F. Pols)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Moves along its course and overflows at its climax with that indefinable but unmistakable assurance of a master filmmaker who knows just what he wants to say, is in total command of his medium and is in no mood to make any compromises. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Seattle Post-Intelligencer
MovieJustice (Samuel Tolliver)
St. Paul Pioneer Press (Chris Hewitt)
Harvey S. Karten
Flipside Movie Emporium (Rob Vaux)
Detroit News (Tom Long)
There is depth in this movie, and fine acting. But even more intriguing, there are questions... questions with no clear answers. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Detroit News (Tom Long)
Lee's Movie Info (Lee Tistaert)
eFilmCritic.com (Elaine Perrone)
A moody tale of loss, guilt, and revenge, powerfully performed. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at eFilmCritic.com (Elaine Perrone)
d+kaz. Intelligent Movie Reviews (Daniel Kasman)
Fresno Bee (Donald Munro)
Vibrant and coldly compelling, Mystic River succeeds in spinning a profoundly American tale on the level of grand tragedy. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Fresno Bee (Donald Munro)
stylusmagazine.com (Jay Millikan)
all right, consider my lesson learned. While intellectually realizing that movies adapted from outstanding novels shouldn't be blamed for not being "as good" as the books upon which they are based, prior to viewing Mystic River I still unaccountably ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at stylusmagazine.com (Jay Millikan)
Reno Gazette-Journal (Mark Robison)
A fine movie but not the masterpiece you've heard. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Reno Gazette-Journal (Mark Robison)
Empire Movies (Erin Cullin)
Washington Post (Ann Hornaday)
If Mystic River is just a bit overplayed, a tad too highly pitched, it still resonates with grief and fury and feeling. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Washington Post (Ann Hornaday)
Variety (Todd McCarthy)
This full-bodied adaptation of Dennis Lehane's involved and involving 2001 bestselling crime novel about old friends in Boston's working-class Irish neighborhood finds Clint Eastwood near the top of his directorial game with a cast of first-rate actors. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Variety (Todd McCarthy)
Salon.com (Stephanie Zacharek)
Mystic River is hard-boiled beyond toughness: It's so tender the skin falls away from the bone. It's Eastwood's most soulful, and most organic, movie. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Salon.com (Stephanie Zacharek)
Newsweek (David Ansen)
A haunted thriller of disturbing power. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Newsweek (David Ansen)
The Onion (A.V. Club) (Keith Phipps)
In his best film since "Unforgiven," Eastwood ultimately lets observations on character, community, and the tidal patterns of tragedy shoulder a burden an ordinary murder mystery never could. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at The Onion (A.V. Club) (Keith Phipps)
Miami Herald (Rene Rodriguez)
Deals with themes Eastwood has often explored before, but never so delicately or with as much sad wisdom: The way in which our past haunts our present, the lasting repercussions of violence and the cruel inexorability of fate. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Miami Herald (Rene Rodriguez)
Philadelphia Inquirer (Carrie Rickey)
Clint Eastwood's exceptional Mystic River, his finest work since Unforgiven, is a murder mystery swelling with the twin themes of violence and vengeance that have long haunted the filmmaker. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Philadelphia Inquirer (Carrie Rickey)
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
This is a powerful tale of crime, guilt, and punishment -- a drama that incorporates elements of whodunit mystery/thrillers and police procedurals with a richly textured three-character play. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
USA Today (Staff (Not credited))
River ranks with the best movies Eastwood has directed: "The Outlaw Josey Wales," "Unforgiven" and "The Bridges of Madison County." But this time, the work is strong without his own on-screen presence -- a significant achievement. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at USA Today (Staff (Not credited))
New York Daily News (Jami Bernard)
The white-knuckle center of the movie is Sean Penn, who gives an utterly raw performance as Jimmy, father of the dead girl. It's one of the few times that a parent's grief has felt real on the screen through all its ugly permutations. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at New York Daily News (Jami Bernard)
JoBlo's Movie Emporium ("JoBlo")
MovieWeb (Justin Case)
ViewLondon (Matthew Turner)
MovieWeb (B. Alan Orange)
Movie Habit (Marty Mapes)
Philadelphia Inquirer
Bucket Reviews (Danny Baldwin)
Palo Alto Online (Jeanne Aufmuth)
Goatdog's Movies (Michael W. Phillips, Jr.)
DVDActive (Pete Roberts)
Film Threat, Hollywood's Indie Voice
Movie Gazette (Gary Panton)
Slate (David Edelstein)
Since his directorial debut in 1971 with Play Misty for Me, Clint Eastwood has managed to convince a lot of otherwise discerning people that his plodding, juiceless movies—which manage to be simultaneously laid-back and heavy-handed—are the work of a ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Slate (David Edelstein)
Salon.com (Stephanie Zacharek)
With "Mystic River" Clint Eastwood has invented a new movie subgenre: neighborhood noir. In both the movie and the Dennis Lehane novel on which it is faithfully based, neighborhoods aren't comforting places; they're menacing ones, where the jovial, ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Salon.com (Stephanie Zacharek)
Rotten Tomatoes - Reviews from the Nation's Top Critics
While it may not be the masterpiece that some claim, it does have the heft and texture of a major work. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Rotten Tomatoes - Reviews from the Nation's Top Critics
Shannon Patrick Sullivan
Movieman's Guide to the Movies (Kushmeer Farakhan)
Film Quips Online (John R. McEwen)
That Cow (Andrew Bradford)
The Oregon Herald (Mark Sells)
DVD Clinic ("The Shootin Surgeon")
Future Movies (Jay Richardson)
Austin Chronicle (Marc Savlov)
Mystic River asks plenty of questions but rarely if ever offers any answers, and certainly no easy ones. If this fine and sorrowful film is what can be expected from our aging cinema icons, here’s to the golden years, dark though they may be. ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at Austin Chronicle (Marc Savlov)
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
With Mystic River, Clint Eastwood has rebounded nicely from the failure of his mediocre previous effort, Blood Work. Absent from the screen but behind the camera for the first time since Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Eastwood concentrates all o ...read the complete Mystic River movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
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