The Mule

Enjoyed this movie directed and starring the great Clint Eastwood. He's aged a lot but still carries huge presence. Good story arc and well paced. Nothing flash or artsy or PC in the storytelling or movie. Good stuff.

This film was perfectly paced to tell the short but true story of an 80 year old WWII veteran and horticulturist's time as a drug mule for the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel. In reality Leo Sharp smuggled more than a ton of Cocaine into Michigan for $1.25 million and was sentenced to three years in prison, after being caught by the DEA, of which he served one year.

In the film, the real Leo Sharp is named Earl Stone and is portrayed by Clint Eastwood himself, who additionally both directed and produced this project. (Also, One of Eastwood's real life daughters starred as his daughter in the film.). Earl is a day lily horticulturist whose business suffers to the point where his home and farm are being foreclosed on, due to his unwillingness to keep up with the times by way of the internet. By chance he meets a young man who offers him a job delivering a package across state lines at his granddaughter's engagement party, which he jumps at in order to make money to help pay for her wedding and save face with his estranged family.

The film really makes a compelling argument for how he gets started in the business and an even more compelling argument for how he got away with it. As an older gentleman people would never guess that he would be involved and in fact even though the DEA gets pointed right to him and the motel he is staying at...they completely overlook this elderly war veteran.

This was slow paced, but heartfelt and emotional. I think fans of good cinematography will enjoy it, fans of Clint Eastwood will love it and fans of good story telling should watch it. It was nice to see Clint Eastwood starring in this film and playing a character of a similar age.

Earl Stone (Clint Eastwood) is a man who is ninety years old, broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business. He lives a solitary existence with a few friends. Earl is estranged by his ex-wife Mary (Dianne Wiest) and his daughter Iris (Alison Eastwood), while his granddaughter Ginny (Taissa Farmiga) is celebrating her engagement with her fiancé. Earl was in the Korean war and confronting his old prejudices he is forced to work as a Mule for the drug lords. He then is offered a job that simply requires him to drive. Easy enough, but, unbeknownst to Earl, he's just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. He does well, so well, in fact, that his cargo increases exponentially, and Earl is assigned a handler. But he isn't the only one keeping tabs on Earl. The mysterious new drug mule has also hit the radar of hard-charging D. E. A. Agent Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper) and agent Teviño (Michael Peña) . Nobody Runs Forever !

Actor/director Clint Eastwood stars as Earl Stone, we are watching a sensational film inspired by a true story in which its message shows us a broody story of old age, personal struggle, faith, redemption, suffering, pain, memories, illness and feelings. Here the maestro Clint Eastwood gives us a film-making lesson from the simplicity of a thought-provoking screenplay. The performance of Eastwood as, gruff retired worker is awesome, he does not disappoint, his presence at the scene is extraordinary. The secondary cast is also magnificent with special mention the two agents: Bradley Cooper, Michael Peña who pursue him . This film along with the previously filmed make that the skill and art of this great director results to be still impressive despite Clint's age.

Main and support cast are pretty good. Clint Eastwood gives a nice acting in his usual style as a ninety-year-old horticulturist and Korean War veteran turns drug mule for a Mexican cartel. Being accompanied by a very good cast with plenty of competent actors , such as: Bradley Cooper, Michael Peña, Laurence Fishburne, Dianne West, Alison Eastwood, Taissa Farmiga, Andy Garcia, Clifton Collins Jr., Robert LaSardo, Richard Herd, among others.

The motion picture produced by Malpaso (Clint's company) was professionally directed by Clint Eastwood , though it gets a little long and has some flaws and shortcomings. Clint Eastwood was in a nice period in which he often used to play to direct competent thrillers during the 70s and 80s , such as : ¨The Gauntlet , Dirty Harry , Magnum Force , Sudden impact , The Black Pool , City Heat , Escape from Alcatraz , Thundelbolt and Lightfoot , Pink Cadillac , Firefox¨ , among others. Clint Eastwood played and directed good Westerns as ¨High Plains Drifter¨, ¨The outlaw Josey Wales¨ , ¨Bronco Billy¨, ¨Pale Rider¨ and ¨Unforgiven¨ . These films along with the filmed in the 2000s as ¨Invictus ¨ , " Changeling" , ¨ Million dollars baby ¨, ¨Mystic river ¨, ¨Gran Torino¨ dealing with a right allegation and relentless denounce against racism and the complex relation between cultures; all of them make that the dramatic force of this great director turns outs to be still breathtaking. Rating : 6.5/10 . The flick will appeal to the completists of Clint Eastwood's long career as a director.

You could say I'm a considerably huge Clint Eastwood fan, I celebrate the man's whole career and love most of his work. As a director, I think he's been solid overall, making a handful of classic films along the way. As watchable as it is, The Mule is not one of them. It could be the last big thing we see from Eastwood's career, and if so, then it's not a bad note to go out on, but it's not his best, and it doesn't have to be. He's proven himself a hundred times over, and this is the film he wanted to make. The Mule is a fine movie to watch, and Eastwood plays a very subdued character, unlike his role in Gran Torino where he still had shades of his bad boy past. He's softer, he's passive, he's what you expect a man of this age to be...and in that way, he played it perfectly.

A marketing campaign coming in at the 12th hour and a film that's still been surprisingly hidden by Warner Bros, The Mule could be a fitting end to a storied Hollywood career from Clint Eastwood. In many ways mirroring his life, The Mule gives insight into Eastwood's inner psyche, as he has navigated being an in demand actor for over 60 years whilst having a large family to look after as well. So if you're looking at the film in that way, it's a sharp and poignant apology Eastwood is sending to his family after all these years. It's not a perfect film, but it's tightly directed, at times brilliantly intense, and even emotionally moving. Even if it is a ultimately predictable and unsurprising drama. If it is Eastwood's last hoorah, it's been one hell of a run.

7.7/10