ViewGuide

Created Mar 19, 2009 09:59PM PST • Edited Aug 20, 2011 11:27AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   One of a string of latter day Clint classics, Mystic River inexorably drives forward from its loss-of-innocence opening to its heartbreaking conclusion, throwing in an ironic coda for good measure. Great story, punchy dialog, crisp direction, stellar acting: perfect movie.

4. Acting

   Perfect 5.0

   Tour de force acting across the board. Sean Penn and Tim Robbins won Oscars for their performances, while Marica Gay Harden was nominated for her’s.

   First rate actors fill out the rest of the cast, each delivering outstanding performances: Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburn, and Laura Linney being the most notable.

   Hell, even Clint’s old running buddy Eli Wallach makes a cameo.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Dennis Lehane’s novel and dialog captures blue collar Boston as few writers do. (He did it again with Gone, Baby, Gone.) Clint’s spare direction unfolds the story crisply, though he allows himself the indulgence of ending many scenes by panning to the cloud-filled sky, no doubt a metaphor for the beseeching pain of the people on the ground.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Perfect 5.0

13. Music Very Good 3.5

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 2.8

17. Sex Titillating 2.1

18. Violence Brutal 2.7

19. Rudeness Profane 3.5

21. Reality

    Glib 1.3

    Brilliant novelistic story.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.8

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0