The Mule

Laconic, measured and easy to digest, although it could have done with more substance

How many addicts are out on the street simply because Mr. Sharp brought the cocaine here?

• Sam Dolnick quoting AUSA Chris Graveline; "The Sinaloa Cartel's 90-Year-Old Drug Mule"; New York Times (June 11, 2014)

63 years since he first appeared on-screen (an uncredited role in Jack Arnold's 1955 Revenge of the Creature), The Mule is 88-year-old Clint Eastwood's first acting role since Robert Lorenz's Trouble with the Curve in 2012, and his first film as a director since about a week ago. It is, however, the first time he's directed himself since the excellent Gran Torino in 2008. Known for being incredibly efficient when it come...

I wonder if Clint Eastwood is one of the few directors who could have gotten this movie made. It took me a while to get around to watching it, partly due to some of the negative buzz I heard out there in the Interworld.

I suspect I liked this movie for the same reason a lot of the bad buzzy folks hated it. How many respected directors have the star power to get a movie made that, even with a violent Mexican drug cartel involved in the plot, turns out to be a thoughtful, mostly gentle character study of an old man awakening fully to regrets of how he treated his family in his younger years. This type of story even goes against the grain of the violent movies that made Eastwood a star in the first place.

It is not a movie I will likel...

This be good.

I enjoyed 'The Mule'. It's an entertaining and well paced flick from 2018, as Clint Eastwood fully stars in a film for the first time since 2012's '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/trouble-with-the-curve/" rel="nofollow">Trouble with the Curve</a>' - and first also as director since 2008's '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/gran-torino/" rel="nofollow">Gran Torino</a>'. The 1930-born actor still has it!

There's a good cast behind Eastwood, with performances given by the likes of Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne and Michael Peña - all of whom have worked with Clint before. Neat to see <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2021/6/22/22545318/the-fast-and-the-furious-original-movie-20th-anniversary#:~:text=Gugl...

Clint Eastwood takes on the character of "Earl Stone", an elderly gent who takes great pride in his award winning flowers but one who is broke; facing the loss of his home and his business. He has to earn some cash, so takes on a job as a delivery driver. He's a Korean War vet, so whilst never quite sure what he is "delivering", he knows full well that the less police involvement with his antics, the better. Soon his success snowballs and he gets himself an unwanted minder. As his money worries dwindle, his personal ones start to rear their heads: his ex wife and his granddaughter who have both had occasion to feel abandoned by him. The DEA is also aware that something is amiss, and they've drafted in "Agent Bates" (Bradley Cooper) whose te...

I never understood how people disagree with giving a movie either 10 or only 1 star here. Either it does it's job or it doesn't.

The Mule is the kind of movie that my dad, rest his soul, would beg me to see in the theater with him, and then rave about after.

A lonely old man that breaks a few laws in order to provide for his family and, in the process, gets himself into trouble with some bad guys.

And it's all done without over-the-top action and special effects, making for a film that is completely reliant on script and acting alone.

In other words, it's old school, dry, and honestly, a pleasure to watch. And it has actual meaning. There is a plot here and a moral to the story. It's a rarity these days.

Good enough Eastwood flick based on a true story

A 90 years-old horticulturalist and war veteran (Clint Eastwood) inadvertently becomes a courier for a Mexican drug cartel. Will he continue to neglect his family?

The Mule (2018) was directed by Eastwood and inspired by the real-life Leo Sharp. There are similarities to Gran Torino (2008), but not as much action. Long stretches naturally involve Earl Stone (Eastwood) driving the highways of America. But things perk up in the second half and theres some welcome human interest.

The flick runs 1 hour, 56 minutes, and was shot in Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia, as well as Las Cruces, New Mexico.

GRADE: B/B-