Once upon a February of 2018, Clint Eastwood didn’t live happily ever after in my brain when I saw his utter disaster called “The 15:17 to Paris”. It was a garbage attempt to honor three men fighting for terrorism on a train that instead consists of useless life sequences that usually took place in school.
10 months later, Eastwood apologized to not just his audience, but also to most of his critics to showcase an emotionally gripping movie written by Nick Schenk of his last masterpiece, “Gran Torino”, which would heal that wound that “Paris” did to his career. That film would be called “The Mule”.
Clint Eastwood plays a 90-year old man named Earl Stone, whom is brutally facing a lot of financial problems and is not affectionate with his family whatsoever. Stone soon becomes very needful for money, which makes him develop as a courier (also known as a mule) transporting cocaine through Peoria, Illinois for a Mexican drug cartel.
Earl Stone is handled by Julio (Ignacio Serrichio), whose intention for Stone is to get in touch with modern technology giving the idea that he never had history of using a cell phone. The reason why is because whenever he is done with a transportation around the Peoria area, Stone has to text Julio that he is done.
Meanwhile, an intelligent DEA agent Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper) is now planning to close in on Earl Stone due to his consequential actions with money and his role in the cartel. That makes Stone eager to take more care of not just attending his granddaughter’s wedding, but also to make peace with her slowly dying ex-wife (Dianne Wiest).
The screenplay written by Nick Schenk of Gran Torino follows the same writing pattern Schenk showcased 10 years ago of that film where it is more of a dark comedy with crime elements involved. That was the main reason why “Gran Torino” worked as a film and needed some really hard Oscar buzz back then.
Although obviously not as good as “Gran Torino”, this film still is very effective and humorous as Eastwood’s previous works and holds as an understated improvement over “The 15:17 to Paris”.
In this scenario, I think the acting is probably the most sufficient and intelligent aspect of the film because despite Schenk’s script being very well-written, the acting is overall the most rousing thing because Eastwood develops his characters with passion and emotional depth.
Clint Eastwood plays a character that symbolizes a sensitive sign to his family while in the cartel society doesn’t really show. He is down-to-earth whenever he is alone driving in his truck singing to hillbilly country legends Willie Nelson and Roger Miller, but is fairly aware of his commitments he makes outside the cartel.
His relationships with the cartel can get very bumpy at times whenever he doesn’t pay attention to what Julio says to him. That shows a sign that he is on a side where he is getting old and his mind is all full of mixed emotions.
Eastwood perfectly plays the character so well in both tense and funny moments that I really wish the Oscars themselves could recognize him by the end of the year.
Another performance people need to look out for especially after his flawless performance in “A Star is Born” would have to be the amazing Bradley Cooper as the DEA agent Colin Bates.
Colin Bates is one of these agents that expects you to feel like a deserved friend rather than a tough cop-like attitude. Whenever he shows up for a task in crime, he takes it more than serious where it is more of a severe cause. Anytime he communicates to Stone, it feels more of a heartfelt bond towards the two and that would be probably my favorite aspect of this character.
I noticed that there are some actors in this film where they had less screen time whom would be Andy Garcia as the cartel boss, Laurence Fishburne as a Special Agent in charge telling Colin Bates about the case, Michael Pena as Bates’ partner Trevino, and Taissa Farmiga playing Earl’s grand daughter (the daughter of Vera Farmiga coming off of the bland Conjuring spin-off “The Nun”). Although not a personal problem for me, I wish they had more time to shine since they were big named-actors (except for Taissa, whom is starting to develop a career for herself).
What would for sure not be a personal problem is a really moving performance by Dianne Wiest as Stone’s ex-wife Mary, whom is currently in the last stages in her life.
During the third act of the film which I won’t spoil of course, there is a beautiful scene between her and Eastwood that really felt truly emotional to watch.
When encountering “The Mule” at your local movie theater, don’t expect it to be the next “Million Dollar Baby” nor “Gran Torino”, but expect it to be an effective and darkly comic middle-of-the-road discount version of these two.
At least it doesn’t compare to the mind-boggling school sequences that were showcased like Shawn Levy directed it than Eastwood in “The 15:17 to Paris”.
Grade: 8/10
