The Mule - Movie Review
The Mule
Plot: A 90-year-old horticulturist and Korean War veteran is caught transporting $3 million worth of cocaine through Illinois for a Mexican drug cartel.
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Peña, Dianne Wiest, Andy GarcÃa
Director: Clint Eastwood
Certificate: 15 (strong language, sexualised nudity)
Runtime: 116 minutes
Release Date: Friday 25th January 2019
At the ripe old age of eighty-nine, most people would look to calm everything down, enjoy daytime TV and make life as easy as possible. Not Clint Eastwood. Oh no. He decided that he wanted to direct and star in a crime thriller where he plays a drug mule for the Mexican cartel as he avoids the D.E.A and parties with the cartel frequenting the occasional threesome. He's eighty-nine... EIGHTY-NINE!!
The Mule isn't as adrenaline fuelled as the previous paragraph insinuates. Instead, Eastwood's most recent feature is fairly monotonous and simplistic and that's also its central downfall. Following a former Korean war veteran after his flowering business and house is foreclosed and his family disregard his existence, Earl Stone (Eastwood) is approached by a family friend to transport packages for various people. Earl later discovers that these packages are full of cocaine and eventually finds himself wrapped round the finger of the Mexican Drug cartel. Inspired by a true story, The Mule is an incredibly strange film. There's no denying that Eastwood is still a star both in front and behind the camera. He brings an effortless amount of charm to the character as we sit and watch elongated scenes of Earl doing nothing but driving along a country road singing along to the radio, and somehow, those were the most endearing moments. Despite his age, Eastwood has a fantastic screen presence even if the script falls away beneath him. As for his direction, there's not a great deal to say. Known for wanting to use as little takes as possible, the flow of some scenes felt off, as if the actors were only giving sixty percent but rather than film the scene again and get the most out of his actors, Eastwood is already wanting to move on to the next scene.
Plot: A 90-year-old horticulturist and Korean War veteran is caught transporting $3 million worth of cocaine through Illinois for a Mexican drug cartel.
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Peña, Dianne Wiest, Andy GarcÃa
Director: Clint Eastwood
Certificate: 15 (strong language, sexualised nudity)
Runtime: 116 minutes
Release Date: Friday 25th January 2019
At the ripe old age of eighty-nine, most people would look to calm everything down, enjoy daytime TV and make life as easy as possible. Not Clint Eastwood. Oh no. He decided that he wanted to direct and star in a crime thriller where he plays a drug mule for the Mexican cartel as he avoids the D.E.A and parties with the cartel frequenting the occasional threesome. He's eighty-nine... EIGHTY-NINE!!
The Mule isn't as adrenaline fuelled as the previous paragraph insinuates. Instead, Eastwood's most recent feature is fairly monotonous and simplistic and that's also its central downfall. Following a former Korean war veteran after his flowering business and house is foreclosed and his family disregard his existence, Earl Stone (Eastwood) is approached by a family friend to transport packages for various people. Earl later discovers that these packages are full of cocaine and eventually finds himself wrapped round the finger of the Mexican Drug cartel. Inspired by a true story, The Mule is an incredibly strange film. There's no denying that Eastwood is still a star both in front and behind the camera. He brings an effortless amount of charm to the character as we sit and watch elongated scenes of Earl doing nothing but driving along a country road singing along to the radio, and somehow, those were the most endearing moments. Despite his age, Eastwood has a fantastic screen presence even if the script falls away beneath him. As for his direction, there's not a great deal to say. Known for wanting to use as little takes as possible, the flow of some scenes felt off, as if the actors were only giving sixty percent but rather than film the scene again and get the most out of his actors, Eastwood is already wanting to move on to the next scene.
Then there's the pace. Four minutes shy of two hours, The Mule feels twice as long. Aside from Earl himself, there's very little character progression and even for Earl, he's given the most generic of familial arcs. Bradley Cooper and Michael Peña star as the federal agents investigating the cartel eventually leading them to Earl but until then, whenever the action would change focus onto Cooper and Peña, it was as if an episode of CSI: Chicago had started playing. Cooper and Peña are squandered in thankless role with both being able to play roles like these in their sleep. And thus stems the most integral reason for The Mule's failure; it's far too safe. Featuring a tiresome plot, outdated stereotypes and some sequences that seem a little too problematic for today's society, The Mule would be more suited to a film you might watch on a Sunday evening on Channel 5 as you look to see if anything's on.
Clint Eastwood is trying to do his best 'Breaking Bad' impression but he no longer has the fire he once flourished with. His endearing and charming personality can't help mask the dull storytelling devices and staggeringly safe direction. So insignificant that you won't even remember it within a week.
Luke's Verdict: 5/10
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