I'm not typically a fan of Clint Eastwood's directing. In fact, I generally hate it. It's way too moody, way too brooding, and no one ever seems happy or light-hearted. He depicts the world as being a terrible place where everyone is depressed and messed up. Which may be true, but it makes for a very sobering viewing experience. For example, I hated Million Dollar Baby a lot. It was depressing, annoying, and the entire movie was done in shadows, which pissed me off (however, Morgan Freeman was amazing). While a lot of this was the case for Mystic River, for some reason I found more to like in this movie. It was extremely powerful and intense, and the human stories were very well-done. It was damn near perfect, until the overly extended ending. Though there were some errors before that, too.
The opening scenes of the film are extremely disturbing and gut-wrenching. They set the stage for themes of the film as a whole. And they allow Tim Robbins to delve deep into the character of Dave, a tortured, broken soul, who is just trying to go through life and forget the tragedy of his childhood. Sean Penn gives a tour-de-force turn as former criminal Jimmy, but the strange thing is, you don't really feel much sympathy for his character after the first hour and half or so. I'm pretty sure you were supposed to be rooting for him, but it's just almost impossible to. He is an asshole, a headstrong thug, and though he plays it perfectly, you only really feel sympathy for him immediately following the death of his daughter. After a while, when he and his friends the Savage Brothers begin to seek revenge on their own, you lose respect and feeling for his character. And it would have been nice to be able to feel for him during the over-long ending.
Kevin Bacon is solid, as is the rest of the supporting cast. It's a great ensemble film, but a lot of the characters are never really delved into very much.
The ending is meant to be a shocker, but I kind of saw it coming for a while. However, that doesn't make it any less explosive and heartbreaking. It would have been sufficient to cut out about half of the final scenes, because the film tries to push a point about Jimmy being a "king" and he's back on top and all of that, but it's really ineffective. The closing shot is haunting...I have never seen water and music used to such great effect.
Thank God I had just watched O Brother, Where Art Thou before I watched Mystic River, or I probably would've been extremely forlorn all through it. Mystic River is a sobering experience, but a emotionally powerful one.