Earl Stone, into his twilight years, starts peddling drugs to make enough money to stall the foreclosure of his horticultural business. Earl is the kind of guy you don’t want to end up being, as he has traded time with his family for money. Although he realizes his folly, he has run out of time to make amends for it. We take a closer look at this Clint Eastwood drama in The Mule film review.
For much of the first half, The Mule goes about as if it had oodles of time on its hands. Apart from the scenery and foot-tapping music, there isn’t much going on here that is absorbing. The Mule‘s pacing seems entirely off as it soon gets repetitive. Only into the third act does the movie get going and it does that rather well.
Clint Eastwood as Earl Stone isn’t your typical grandad nor is he is going to take the route most people would expect for a man of his age. As a result, The Mule does have its tense moments particularly in the last quarter of the movie. Playing his wife in the film is Dianne Wiest whose performance is integral to The Mule as she shares some of the film’s more poignant moments with Clint Eastwood.
Bradley Cooper as the DEA officer-in-charge of hauling in Earl Stone doesn’t do anything significant until late in the film when his character shares a scene with Clint Eastwood’s Earl. It is about at this point that we get to the exciting part and can put out of our consciousness the sluggish first half of the movie.
For the most part, the songs are the highlight of The Mule with Don’t Let The Old Man In by Toby Keith being my favorite number. Apart from that, the wide-angle shots capture the countryside rather handsomely.
If you are looking for an absorbing drama peppered with action, this one is for you. For Eastwood fans, it might not be up there with some of his better works, but then again if this doesn’t satiate your appetite for seeing Clint Eastwood on-screen, you can always turn back to one of his old classics.
(3 / 5)
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