MovieChat Forums > Mystic River (2003) Discussion > Question for fans, maybe clearer in the ...

Question for fans, maybe clearer in the book?

posted 10 years ago by Manton29
4 replies | jump to latest

Silent Ray and his buddy killed Katie Markum.

Why?

Ray has two clear possible motives:

1) Jimmie murdered his dad and it's just possible he may have somehow known this.
2) His brother, the only person he loves in the world was about to leave him to run away and marry Katie.

Yet Katie's killing is described in the film as a terrible and pretty random accident; a game that got out of hand. I prefer to assume motive 2, but I do feel having three explanations, plus the accomplice, plus them making the 911 call, detracts from the film.

Any thoughts?

Time for a new signature, perhaps. Hmmmm...

[–] robble-1 10 years ago

It's been a long time since I've read the book but I think it was No. 2--random, brutal, tragic.

There's something here that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick.-The Doctor

[–] Manton29 10 years ago

Cheers for the response. Actually, I'm not sure what you're saying - my fault, I should have said THREE possible motives, the third being no motive at all; just a random accident. So are you thinking this option three ('random') was how the book had it as you recall?

Manton

[–] robble-1 10 years ago

Yes. :-)

There's something here that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick.-The Doctor

[–] daddysarm 8 years ago

The plot device of HOW / WHY the murder occurred is just plain dumb & to top it off, during this "random accident" crime, one of the kids supposedly beats her to a pulp with ... wait for it ... a hockey stick.

No. Just no. All around. Just terrible writing.