Movie Review: The Mule

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

Review: Even at 88 years old, director-actor Clint Eastwood shows us he still has it in spades. This movie is a dark, uncompromising and unexpected ride, as well as a perfect vehicle for Clint Eastwood's talents.


What we see here is not the young tough guy Clint Eastwood who we know as Dirty Harry or the Man With No Name. Instead his character here is in some ways a character of pity. A man who is taken advantage of by a drug cartel until he gets in too deep to get out. Not that all his problems are caused by his naivete.  He has disappointed his family so many times that his own daughter (played by Clint's real life daughter Alison) won't even speak to him. What is amazing is how well these two elements meet.

 I won't give much more away about the plot (truth be told if you have seen the previews, you know this much already). What I will say is that the storyline is fantastic and often I had no idea what was going to happen. All this lead up to a perfect ending and while I may not have seen it coming I can't argue that there is no better way this movie could have ended.

There are scenes of real suspense in this movie, especially towards the end. However one would be wrong to call this an action movie. It is a leisurely paced character study. To be honest some will probably find it too slow, but I felt the pacing perfect. It let you see the world from the eyes of the main character. You are in the moment with him and see why he enjoys being a driver at first and why this changes. This is certainly a movie you could never watch while on your phone or computer. You would still be able to follow the story but you'd miss the pure and seemingly simple charm of these slower paced scenes.

Even if Clint plays a different character here, his performance is fantastic. He brings so much humanity to this character that many scenes feel simply heartbreaking. You forget that this is Clint Eastwood on screen and instead see Earl Stone. Clint has spent most of his time behind the camera lately (he still directed The Mule as well as starred in it), and though many movies he directed were great movies, this film proves he is still an incredible actor able to put a lot of heart and humanity into a performance in a completely believable way.

Despite this being a dark slow paced movie there is no doubt some really fun moments. Many of Earl's unintentionally offensive comments get good laughs, as do his comments about young people. Also delightful is Earl's singing along to old country songs (Willie Nelson, Hank Snow and Roger Miller included) on the radio. This gives such an easygoing and irresistible charm to many of the early driving scenes.

Speaking of country music we get a new Toby Keith song entitled Don't Let the Old Man In over the end credits. This is not only a delightful song and one of Keith's best in quite a while, but the lyrics are a lovely heartfelt tribute to the film's director and star. It brings back many memories of watching Clint's best movies in our lives. Of course with me being a country music fan (as I've mentioned on this blog many times) this and the scenes in the car added a lot to my enjoyment of the film.

There are some faults in this movie with some scenes I think should have ended on the cutting room floor, but these are all minor compared to just how powerful this movie is elsewhere. This is a must see.


-Michael J. Ruhland