Finally made myself go see the new Clint Eastwood movie The Mule. “Made myself” not because I don’t like Eastwood as an actor and director, but because the trailer had him pronounce “pecan” in two different ways! And, yes, that’s half a joke… my real reason was I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch conservative Eastwood make a scare-tactics movie about Mexican druglords.
This is actually a pretty good film about an old man who works with and respects his Spanish speaking employees in his award-winning daylilly (flower/horticultural) operation. He is distant from his family as he travels constantly (and has a spotless driving record). He loses that job though when the Internet puts him out of business. So he decides to become a drug mule, running quantities of cocaine from Texas to Chicago in exchange for great quantities of cash.
Eastwood creates an interesting character here. This isn’t the crusty old bad-ass type he played in Gran Tourino… he’s a regretful, somewhat sad, but good-natured old guy who understands exactly what he’s doing. He kind of doesn’t want to take shit from anyone but knows he’s too old to physically fight back, but he has seen it all and is unimpressed by the machismo the drug dealers throw at him.
The movie also stars Bradley Cooper, Michael Pena, and Laurence Fishburn as DEA agents trying to catch the cartel’s latest drug mule. It’s a tough job because, yeah, they don’t expect an 80 year old white man with no criminal history. This side story is fine… it sometimes feels like an afterthought but they give us enough from them – and scenes between Cooper and Eastwood – to make the story matter.
I liked this film a lot more than I expected. It’s got heart and a really good performance from Eastwood. He’s never been known as the world’s greatest actor and I was able to lose the man for the character her created. I pretty well can recommend this film. It’s a bit of a slow burn at times but that’s in Eastwood’s nature as a thoughtful director. And it’s not some boogeyman ooga-booga the Mexicans are coming for us all flick.
Oh, and they only pronounced pecans in one way. FTW!
Score: 83