The Mule (2018)

"The Mule", as many of Eastwood's movies, especially after year 2000, is a slow one. I was actually expecting a slow burner, pretty much the same as "Gran Torino", but it's much more calm than that and doesn't have the same impact in the end.

The movie is mostly based on a real story, changing some names and locations. Earl Stone, an old florist specialized in lilies growing, goes bankrupt. To save his last working family connection, the relation with a niece soon to be wed, whom he promised covering some costs, he accepts to run an errand. So he does a transport with his truck. Strict rules: not allowed to see what he's carrying, no direct contact at delivery, he must throw away his phone afterwards. The first run is a success and the payment is enough to even upgrade his car, so the old man decides to continue. Obviously, it doesn't take long for him to figure out he's a drug mule, but the runs keeps going on with larger quantities. Sufficient enough to not be able to move back from it and also to hit the top list of mules tracked by the DEA...

"The Mule" is not an action movie, although it doesn't lack it completely. It's mainly a drama, a large part of it being focused on Earl's tries to make peace with his family. At the same time it's also a reflection over life, or better said over the possibility of changing it even at the age of 90. I can't say I wasn't a bit disappointed by an anticlimactic ending that doesn't close completely all the subject threads, but 1) probably it would've forced the real story otherwise and 2) as I was saying it has a calm that it keeps up to its end, which is somehow comforting, and that's probably the main reason to recommend it.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5