Set in the 1970s, this movie starts with an innocent game of hockey between three-neighborhood boys. One of the boys hits the hockey puck into the gutter and they all walk over to try and get it back out. They notice a freshly re-paved sidewalk and walk over to it. Each boy starts to write his name on the sidewalk. Two of the three boys are able to complete their names, first Sean and then Jimmy. When we finally get to the third boy, Dave, who bends down to start writing his name, a car pulls up and interrupts them. A man, who has a police badge gets out and starts yelling at them.This mystery man asks each boy where he lives and the man takes Dave, who lives the furthest away, and tells him to get into the car. They don’t ask questions; he just gets in.The car drives away with Dave, and the two boys who were left watch their friend leave in the back of that car, not to be seen for another four days.Twenty-five years later, these three boys, now men, are leading completely different lives and once again cross paths. This time another tragedy occurs. Jimmy’s daughter has been murdered.Set in the slums of Boston, Mystic River is filled with mystery and suspense. It keeps you on your feet and it reminds you of a very well-thought-out James Patterson book.Director Clint Eastwood could not have asked for a better cast of characters, and he made it a point that every character counts in order to tell the story as accurately as possible. Tim Robbins plays the tragic character , Dave, who seems to be stuck in a particular moment of time. He can’t seem to move on, a fact which, by the end of the movie, hurts him more then helps him. Kevin Bacon plays the street-punk-kid-turned-homicide-detective Sean. His story is not quite as tragic as the others, but when the murder of Jimmy’s daughter occurs, he’s the detective on the case, this situation forces him to deal with his past.Finally the once-afraid-of-his-father kid who is now a no good crook, Jimmy, is played by Sean Penn. Jimmy is a character you would expect to develop from that type of neighborhood. He is a guy who just can’t seem to lead the right life and get away from mobster like behavior.Each man seems to have his own demons and how he deals with those demons is the premise of the multi-faceted plot. The movie is about two and one-half hours long, and there is never a dull moment. With all of its twists and turns at every corner, it’s guaranteed that you won’t be sure what’s going to happen next. Which is what you should expect from a good suspenseful movie.