When audiences think of an almost 90-year-old actor and movie star that could play a leading role requiring drama, humor, and a performance that's engaging, there seems to be no one that comes to mind other than Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood in the Twilight years of his acting/directing career. With a resume that spans over 50 years, Eastwood remains one of the most prolific actors of his generation as well as a director whom audiences loyally flock to see his films when they see his name involved in the credits. When audiences see the name Clint Eastwood in the directors chair, the chances are they are going to get a top notch quality film despite the actors hiccups in between with his missed opportunity films.
The Mule serves as being Eastwood's second directorial debut in 2018 after the critical and box office failure of his real life drama,
15:17 to Paris. The Mule has Eastwood once again returning to the directors chair with him inserting himself in his first official acting performance since 2012's
Trouble With The Curve. Here he chooses another real life story that he found intriguing enough to make into a Hollywood film. Eastwood's recent trend of directing films lately, has been to bring real life stories involving real people to the big screen, even if sometimes the stories he picks are more interesting to him than his audience though he carries a loyal fanbase, that will always see whatever films he acts and directs in. With
The Mule, Eastwood once again shows Hollywood as well as the audience that he's in a league of his own as an elderly movie star, who can still carry a film on his shoulder both as an actor and director. On the acting side, Eastwood is terrific as usual, on the filmmaking side,
The Mule isn't among his strongest works but remains a fairly entertaining biographical drama revolving around a man performing a crazy task while realizing through his experience that the most important thing in life that matters is family.
The plot for
The Mule centers around a 90-year-old horticulturist and Veteran of the Korean War (Played by Clint Eastwood), losing his business and home, ultimately turning himself into a drug mule for a Mexican cartel gang when he discovers what he's been transporting in his pickup truck. As the shipments become larger, he becomes tracked by DEA agents (Played by
American Sniper's Bradley Cooper,
Crash's Michael Pena, and
Matrix's Laurence Fishburne). The storyline for
The Mule essentially works as being
Breaking Bad except the star of the movie is a 90-year-old Hollywood legend. Only Eastwood could play this part and deliver the film justice by bringing it to the big screen as he's more interesting as an elderly actor than someone like Robert Redford at this point in his career. Whereas most drug tales are full of action and suspense, this one is a soft-hearted tale about an old man attempting to re-establish the bridge between himself and the family he's neglected over the years. The character is shown to be well aware of the items he's transporting and chooses to continue doing so, ignoring the moral implications of it and having no regrets until the end. The film is not one that allows for action to develop, but rather comes across as a slow burner and character study revolving around Eastwood's character Earl. The character of Earl feels similar to that of Walt Kowalski from
Gran Tarino in the fact that both elderly men are old-fashioned and out of touch with reality. An example is Earl talking smack to strangers and making comments that often feel like Eastwood taking a shot at today's PC culture. Those moments come across as being comedic and fitting the compass of the character given his age and set of beliefs that don't align with today's culture. Eastwood makes Earl's character sympathetic and understandable of his decision to become a mule by showing his livelihood being threatened, pushing him into the path of transporting drugs for a Mexican drug cartel throughout the Midwest. As his character demonstrates his worth, his runs become longer and more profitable with the more trips he makes. Despite the story being based on an actual one, this is Eastwood's show and he centers the story around the character of Earl putting the audience through his experience while placing every other character in the backseat.
As far as the films acting is concerned, Eastwood once again dominates the screen and is terrific to watch as usual with his steady direction guiding him throughout the picture. His character is convincing and believable despite times where Earl comes across as goofy or a little too shocked to discover he's been transporting drugs the whole time he's been making his runs. Dianne Wiest does well playing Earl's ex-wife though her character feels like she's been underused in the story. The same can be said for Bradley Cooper's character as the DEA agent pursuing Eastwood along with Laurence Fishburne and Michael Pena. Ignacio Serricchio shines in his supporting role as the hardened member of the Cartel whose been assigned to watch Earl complete his drives while growing to respect him. Andy Garcia has a minimal role but makes the best of it by playing the leader of the Cartel, who takes notice of Earl's successes at transporting the goods from one area to the next. Cesar De Leon and Allison Eastwood shine in their roles as well with the main cast as a whole delivering strong performances regardless of the capacity of their roles. Even though some of the high profile actors may appear to have small roles here, they all serve their purpose of driving the main central focus of the story which is the story of Earl and his bizarre
Breaking Bad episode while finding his own path to personal redemption.
In terms of directing, Eastwood once again brings his directorial talents to the project, giving the story a steady focus while making the pace of the film move slow enough to fully develop Earl's character. He delivers intensity in key moments such as Earl coming across the Cartel gang and him discovering that the items he's been transporting back and forth are drugs. He also provides humerous moments that channel Walt's character from
Gran Tarino such as Earl assisting an African-American couple with fixing their tire and dimwittingly stating without a second thought "I'll Help you negroes out." Much to the shock of the African-American couple, they correct him by saying they are people just like him with Earl's character brushing it aside as no big deal and resuming fixing their tire. Other similar moments with Eastwood's character using similar rhetoric is when arguing with the Cartels and proclaiming how they all look similar. Whereas Eastwood presents these moments in a fashion that comes across as being humerous given Earl's cartoonish yet provocative nature, he also uses the character of Earl to showcase the glaring cultural division within the U.S with another example being his character stumbling upon a biker gang of lesbians. The script by Nick Schenk and Sam Dolnik, based off a New York Times Magazine Article titled "The Sinaloa Cartel's 90-Year Old Drug Mule", is fairly strong with the intent being it was designed to place the spotlight on Eastwood. The writers show Eastwood's shock at first to discovering he's transporting drugs to him taking the passive route and enjoying the realization that he has money coming in with the story ending with him experiencing the regret of not being there for his family as well as accepting consequences of his actions. Earl is portrayed as not being a bad person, but someone whose been down on his luck and chose to perform an illegal act in order to make ends meat while helping his friends and family along the way with the money he's got coming in
Overall,
The Mule doesn't rank among Eastwood's best works as the story while being an interesting one, wasn't fully developed to its full potential. There are moments where Earl's character is shown to be singing to music in his truck that serve little to no purpose with the rest of the plot, and the characters surrounding him, particularly the Cartel members as well as his ex-wife and DEA agents pursuing him, feel underused despite everyone delivering strong performances. The films pacing is a slow-burner, which may make the story come across as being boring for audiences looking for more intensity and action but
The Mule works best as being a strong character study of Eastwood's character Earl. Despite the films shortcomings, the end result is an entertaining film that has moments where the audience will be concerned about the main characters safety when meeting with the Cartels while laughing at Earl's absurd antics or ridiculous commentary. The heart of the film lies within the story and how Eastwood was able to make a man wishing he could turn back the clock resonate with audiences the way he does here. One feels that Eastwood much like
Gran Tarino was wrongfully snubbed of a Best Actor nomination for his work on both movies as he presents two flawed men at the end of their ropes finding unusual yet effective pathways to redemption in the end. For fans of Clint Eastwood (Putting his political and personal views aside) as well as audiences in general,
The Mule is worth watching as it's an entertaining and reasonably decent biographical drama, that shows how people when pushed into corners can do the most extreme things while also feeling the pain of regret in the end.
Final Verdict: For Clint Eastwood fans, its worth a watch.
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