The Mule

Clint Eastwood starts to look his age in a film that fails to engage.

Maybe that’s all I need to say? The film is not very memorable for me, but some context is important.

Eastwood directs and stars in this film inspired by a true story about a 90-year-old transporting drugs for a Mexican drug cartel in his pick-up truck.

Eastwood’s latest film will not find a place on any of my lists.

But, a list of Eastwood films I admire — that engage me emotionally and intellectually — would be long. Focusing on those he has directed, it would include his directorial debut Play Misty for Me, the influential postmodern Western Unforgiven, the brilliant (and revisionist) boxing movies Million Dollar Baby, his two complex films set during World War II Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, and Gran Torino, which I am more ambivalent about though it is the film most likely to be compared to The Mule.

During The Mule, I found myself thinking quite often of David Lynch’s wonderful and understated (G-rated!) movie The Straight Story, especially during the sequences when Eastwood’s character was on the drug runs. During those musing moments (never a very good sign when that happens to you while watching a film), I was wishing for a stronger thesis (or conceptual theme) that would unify this film.

 I think one of my biggest problems with the film thematically is that the story does not provide motivation for Earl Stone’s redemption, not that I think movies need to follow pat formulas, but there should be some unifying theme (either within the story or linking the story to the larger culture—optimally both) to make the film cohere. SPOILER—His cathartic family reunion at the end seems unearned (and not set up by anything that comes before it) to me. 

Earlier in his career, but still as an older director, Eastwood performed an amazing feat: he elevated the modest novel The Bridges of Madison County (with an able assist from Richard LeGravenese in the adaptation) to a film that far exceeds its source material.

I have no intention of diminishing the accomplishments of Eastwood as a director and actor, but this film doesn’t work for me. 

The pacing seems off. The story doesn’t really come together thematically, as noted. The score is treacly (though the source music when Eastwood’s character Earl Stone is driving is not bad). 

The Mule is not convincing in the same way as Eastwood’s stronger movies, which is a big part of its failure to engage me. 

There are plenty of more satisfying media texts out there…on screens large and small…

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