Mystic River is a 2003 American neo-noir mystery drama film, directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood, and starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laura Linney.

In 1975, Irish-American neighborhood friends Jimmy Markum, Sean Devine, and Dave Boyle are playing street hockey in Charlestown, Boston.

After writing their names in a patch of wet concrete on the sidewalk, two men posing as police officers abduct Dave and sexually abuse him for four days until he escapes.

Twenty-five years later, Jimmy is an ex-convict and neighborhood convenience store owner; Sean is a detective with the Massachusetts State Police whose pregnant wife Lauren recently left, and Dave is a blue-collar worker continually haunted by the abduction and rape he suffered.

The detectives learn that the gun used to kill her, a .38 Special revolver, was also used in a liquor store robbery in 1984 by "Just Ray" Harris, the father of Brendan.

Meanwhile, after finding his father's gun missing, Brendan confronts his mute younger brother "Silent Ray" and his friend John O'Shea about Katie's murder.

The next morning, Sean tells Jimmy that John and "Silent Ray" confessed to killing Katie as part of a prank gone wrong.

The site's critics consensus reads: "Anchored by the exceptional acting of its strong cast, Mystic River is a somber drama that unfolds in layers and conveys the tragedy of its story with visceral power.

The piece examines Mystic River in the context of Eastwood's entire oeuvre, praising his “evolution [into] cinema's […] sorrowful conscience”.

Scott wrote a long review of this "mighty" work, at one point observing: "Dave's abduction is an act of inexplicable, almost metaphysical evil, and this story of guilt, grief and vengeance grows out of it like a mass of dark weeds.

The main dramatic action, we have every reason to suspect, is complete ... A long, climactic night of revelation and confrontation is over, and the weary streets of Boston are flooded with hard autumnal light.

"[14] In the New York Times, on June 8, 2004, anticipating the DVD and CD release, Dave Kehr praised the film as "a symphonic study in contrasting voices and values.

[15] The film earned $156,822,020 worldwide with $90,135,191 in the United States and $66,686,829 in the international box office, which is significantly higher than its $25–30 million budget.