Review of The Mule (2018) by Bertaut1 — 09 Feb 2019

Laconic, measured and easy to digest, although it could have done with more substance.

63 years since he first appeared on-screen, The Mule is 88-year-old Clint Eastwood's first role since Trouble with the Curve (2012), and his first film as a director since about a week ago. It is, however, the first time he's directed himself since the excellent Gran Torino (2008). Known for being highly efficient when it comes to filmmaking, Eastwood has maintained an extraordinary rate of turnover, with The Mule the 37th feature he's directed since Play Misty for Me (1971). Of course, when you work at that rate for as long as he has, you're going to put out a few duds, and although his directorial output has gone through ups and downs in the past, his most recent work has been arguably the most disappointing of his career, with pretty much everything he's directed since Gran Torino being subpar. Indeed, the most notable thing he's done in the last decade is ramble to an empty chair. The bad news is that The Mule is a strangely formless film, almost a collection of disconnected scenes rather than a narrative with forward momentum; it has precious little depth or nuance; there's some casual racism, most of which we're encouraged to laugh at; the tone is all over the place; Eastwood's character has not one, but two threesomes with young women; and it wastes almost all of its excellent cast. The good news is that, somehow, it's extremely enjoyable.

Telling the story of Earl Stone (Eastwood), a 90-year-old horticulturist and Korean War veteran, who becomes the Sinaloa Cartel's most prolific drug mule, the film is written by Nick Schenk, based on Sam Dolnick's 2014 New York Times article, "The Sinaloa Cartel's 90-Year-Old Drug Mule", which tells the story of Leo Sharp, a horticulturist and World War II veteran who became the Sinaloa Cartel's most reliable mule.

Certainly not the Michael Mann-esque crime thriller it's being advertised as, The Mule is laconic and contemplative, laid-back and not especially dramatic, with next-to-nothing in the way of a dénouement.

Eastwood plays Stone as a more regretful version of Walt Kowalski, the redeemable racist he played in Gran Torino. Both Korean War veterans who find themselves alienated from the world they live in, and who believe the next generation lack fortitude, Stone is much softer, and on the universal scale of racism, whereas Kowalski is Mel Gibson-racist, Stone is Prince Philip-racist; the type of racism we forgive because he's 837 years old, half-senile, and grew up "in a different time." Sure, he calls Hispanics "beaners" and jokes about them getting deported, and refers to black peoples as "negroes", but these examples are played for laughs. And whilst that might be fair enough in a film that depicts non-Caucasians with something resembling diversity, The Mule's non-white characters are one-dimensional stereotypes; every Hispanic character, for example, is either a drug-runner or an industrious labourer.

A key scene in relation to the film's depiction of minorities, but one which is disappointingly also played for laughs, is when the cops pull over who they think is their man only to quickly realise their mistake (it's a young Hispanic) and they're guilty of racial profiling. The man is terrified, well aware of stats concerning police shootings of non-whites (his line, "statistically speaking, this is the most dangerous five minutes of my life" speaks volumes about modern America). The scene could have given rise to a socio-political commentary but Eastwood is more interested in guffaws.

Perhaps the film's most egregious failing, however, is that it never once addresses the fact that Stone is fuelling addiction and destroying lives. The darker implications of his drug-running are kept firmly out of sight of the audience. Instead, he is almost a modern-day Robin Hood, using his new-found cash to pay for his granddaughter's wedding and education, and to renovate the local VA hall.

Another issue is that the film's structure is bizarre - there's no real sense of narrative cohesion, as one scene jumps to another without a huge amount connecting them. You could take the various driving scenes, cut them in a completely different manner, and you would still have the same film.

However, irrespective of these failings, I thoroughly enjoyed The Mule. It could have been a socially conscious thriller looking at racial profiling, drug-dealing, American masculinity, generational conflict, socio-economic issues. But, in fairness, that isn't the film Eastwood set out to make. He has made many interesting political films in his career. The Mule is not one of them. Instead, he's turned the material into a jaunty, easy-to-watch meditation on age and family. Despite myself, I can forgive the casual racism, the structural problems, the wasted cast, the use of serious social issues to get cheap laughs, and I can do so because the film is enjoyable, pure and simple.