Mystic River (2003)

I can't, for the life of me, understand why so many reviewers have praised Eastwood's direction, which is this film's prime problem. I didn't find this story powerful, haunting, or anything. I've seen more moving child abduction stories on Lifetime. And why on earth can't he pull back the camera a bit and let us see the characters move? Instead, we're thrust into movement along with them, often stuck slightly below the onscreen characters as we try to follow their conversations against our increasing vertigo. He's also apparently horrible with children -- the three in the opening sequence screamed "Hollywood Elementary School" rather than "Hollywood movie." The acting from the primary characters, however, was amazing. Too bad he didn't trust them -- and us -- enough to let them convey the story to us.

C+