Mystic River (2003) ***/*****

This movie is good, but far from being an oscar worthy. There's not a boring moment in there, and there are some fine moments too, but I couldn't find any greatness as well. Some things really bothered me about this movie, mainly the role of the women:

*****SPOILERS*****

1) Wife no.1 - Sean Devine's (Kevin Bacon) mysterious wife on the phone. Why was that necessary at all? it seems like an awful attempt at trying to add another layer to Bacon's personality, because without it there's not much to work with. He's a good detective and that's it. Are we supposed to feel confused about that woman and think that maybe she has anything to do with the murder? no we're not, and her moments in this movie are pretty much redundant.

2) Wife no.2 - Jimmy's (Sean Penn) wife. We see very little of her throughtout the movie and then she suddenly gets the most important scene at the end, when dealing with what her husband did. She did allright, the only problem is I wasn't even sure who she was before that scene. I think replacing those wife-on-the-phone moments with more of Jimmy's wife moments- would've made me appreciate that final scene a lot more, because I would've known a little more about that wife who obviously means a lot to her husband. It just came from nowhere.

3) Wife no.3- Dave's (Tim Robbins) wife. Even for a movie, that woman is unbelievable. Her telling none other than Katie's dad about her husband's guilt seems unrealistic and forced into this movie. Yes she needed to share it with someone, but no woman on earth in a similar position, would choose to share it with the father, no matter how close they are.

Overall, this movie is allright, but I don't agree with all the praise calling it a masterpiece.

"A Perfect World" and "Unforgiven" are still the best I've seen from Eastwood (as director).