It’s just time is all. I could buy everything, but I couldn’t buy time.
Earl Stone ( Clint Eastwood)
Details
| Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
|---|---|
| Screenplay by | Nick Schenk |
| Based on | “The Sinaloa Cartel’s 90-Year-Old Drug Mule” by Sam Dolnick |
| Produced by | Clint Eastwood, Tim Moore, Kristina Rivera, Jessica Meier, Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas |
| Starring | Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Peña, Dianne Wiest, Andy García |
| Cinematography | Yves Bélanger |
| Edited by | Joel Cox |
| Music by | Arturo Sandoval |
| Production companies | Imperative Entertainment, Bron Creative, Malpaso Productions |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date | December 10, 2018 (Regency Village Theater)December 14, 2018 (United States) |
| Running time | 116 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50 million |
| Box office | $174.8 million |
WARNING
MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS AHEAD!
Based on a true story, this semi biographical film makes appearance dominates the awards nominations. Eastwood’s The Mule was published very late which made it very doubtful of its appearance in the nominations . What with the elderly actor/director giving a fine measured performance in a film that is often paced gently and beautifully shot.
The Mule is about an elderly man, Earl (Eastwood), 90 years old, and a horticulturalist fallen on hard times. A man who has neglected his family for a business which has failed in the era of the internet.
He find himself offered work driving because of his clean license, and ends up transporting drugs for the Cartel.
He becomes the Cartel’s most successful mule, and evades an elaborate attempt by the DEA to identify him.
As the payloads get bigger, Earl seems to enjoy his dubious employment. He discovers his cargo and yet continues. He puts the profits into his daughter’s wedding, into rebuilding a local club for old folks. He buys himself back into the lives he has ruined.
The film opens with Earl missing his daughter’s wedding, preferring to buy a round for the wedding party of a group of strangers while attending a flower conference. He shows no guilt, no cognisance of his confused priority.
So when we see him packing his possessions into a truck as his home is foreclosed we don’t care. He’s popular with colleagues, but he has spurned his family.
Arriving at his granddaughter’s engagement party we see she idolises him, latching onto his postcards sent from his travel, and flying in the face of the frigid reception of his (ex)wife and daughter. Those he has let down. It is this fragile old man who gets brought in as an unwitting mule.
Twice in the film we see Earl getting fresh with two young women simultaneously. I’m pretty sure the whole reason The Mule exists is so 88 year old Clint Eastwood could have a three-way on screen.
If you’re old, it’s ok to be corrupt. It’s okay to illegally profit from corrupt regimes. It’s okay to be sexist. To be racist.
It is tempting to see this as a commentary on Trump and Trump’s America, and if this had been made by another director, I think that’s how we would read it. But it seems like more of an endorsement. In 2016 Eastwood told us to “get over it” with regards Trump’s racism and mysogyny, and that’s pretty much what we’re expected to do with Earl.
Eastwood as an actor is still engaging, but as a director, he’s misjudged, out of time and place.
The movie is actually a lot more pleasant than the tense trailers make it look. ... But I recommend seeing this movie anyway, as it's an engaging watch and a worthy entry into Eastwood's filmography. Grade: B. “The Mule” is rated R for language throughout and brief sexuality/nudity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- wiki – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mule_(2018_film)
- cinepunked reviews – https://cinepunked.com/2019/01/23/reviewthemule2018/
- IMDb – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7959026/
DuckDesk 
Read the whole thing twice, waiting to read more ♡
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