The Mule (2018)

While driving to visit family for Thanksgiving I passed a billboard for the Clint Eastwood movie The Mule, and it occurred to me that people were driving past billboards for Clint Eastwood movies 50 years ago. This may be your last chance to see Mr. Eastwood on screen in something new, the man is 88 years old and rarely acts anymore, concentrating on directing, and he is one of the best living at it. Eastwood stars in and directs The Mule, and if it turns out to be his final screen performance it would be an appropriate note to go out on. Like The Old Man & the Gun the Robert Redford vehicle from earlier last year he has billed as his last screen appearance, The Mule is also inspired by the true story of an elderly criminal.

Based loosely on the real life Leo Sharp, Clint Eastwood plays Earl Stone, a career horticulturalist whose once thriving daylily business is destroyed by the internet. Earl's always loved to drive and when a chance to make easy money delivering a package from Texas to his native Illinois pops up he jumps at it. Not one to ask questions about a lucky break, Earl never the less quickly puts together that he is engaged in drug running, however he finds ways to compartmentalize this and continues to do it. While Earl's personal money needs are quickly meet he finds other things he can use the dough on, like helping to pay for his granddaughters wedding, or fix up his local VFW after its is damaged by fire (Earl is a proud Korean War veteran). Earl becomes an enigma to the drug cartel he works for, who can't figure out the old man who will stop to help a family on the side of the road with a flat tire, and then spend the night in his hotel room with two prostitutes. Earl was always a man who put his self first, to the determent and frustration of his family and those who loved him, so oddly the very selfish act of drug running opens unexpected opportunities to reconnect with estranged loved ones.

It's a prefect vehicle for Eastwood, he gets to be crusty on the surface but subtly revel his characters emotions below, he is a master at this. At times The Mule feels a little like two movies, contrasting Earl's adventures on the road with the work of a team of DEA agents (lead by Bradly Cooper) who you know are going to intersect with Earl eventually. However The Mule delivers everything you'd want from it, I thought it was consistently engaging, and a little to my surprise had an underlying tension throughout which made it almost a thriller. It's a master demonstrating his mastery and while on some level you may feel that you've seen this before it's still probably worth your time. ****