Review: The Mule

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

If "The Mule" ends up being Clint Eastwood's final film - and I'm not trying to be morose, but he is 89 years old - it will be a fitting sendoff as it incorporates a number of the elements that have characterized the latter part of his career: stories about elderly curmudgeons, films about the effects of violence and angry characters who are softened through contact with other people. All in all, "The Mule" is a solid late Eastwood film, and a significant step up from several of his recent pictures, namely "The 15:17 to Paris," "Sully" and "Jersey Boys."

In the film, Eastwood plays Earl, a man who has dedicated his life to growing and hybridizing day lilies at the expense of skipping out on family functions. His estranged ex-wife (Dianne Wiest) and daughter (Alison Eastwood) barely speak to him anymore after he failed to show up for the latter's wedding. His granddaughter (Taissa Farmiga) is the only family member who holds out hope for him.

After his business begins to fail, Earl discovers an opportunity to become a driver for a Mexican cartel, carrying packages - into which he, at first, doesn't peek - from place to place in his pickup truck. He's a good choice for a mule - his advanced age make him an unlikely drug runner, so he manages to elude the police. Slightly less realistic is his ability to stay alive after continuously making grouchy remarks to cartel members.

Based on his performance at the 2012 Republican convention and (at least, previous) support for Donald Trump, some might make the mistake of thinking that "The Mule" will be some sort of MAGA fantasy in which Eastwood - much as he did in the superior "Gran Torino" - takes on the cartels and helps secure the border. While Earl occasionally makes un-PC comments - which are included somewhat uncomfortably, especially during a scene in which he helps an African American couple whose car has broken down - those who think they have the film figured out from the get-go might be surprised that Earl's comments are continually challenged by other characters, and Earl is consistently found by others to be in the wrong. Several of the cartel members are even portrayed sympathetically.

All the while, a group of FBI agents led by Bradley Cooper's Colin Bates are trying to follow the mule's trail, not knowing that the man they are looking for is a senior citizen. There's a nice scene in which Eastwood and Cooper meet in a diner that recalls the DeNiro-Pacino sit-down in Michael Mann's "Heat." A later scene when the two men meet up again acts as a nice coda to the relationship.

"The Mule" is a film about an aging man's regrets, and while Earl's antics are often played for laughs, the bonding that the character has with his family in the film's final moments are surprisingly moving. While the film might not be quite on par with some of Eastwood's best work of the 21st century - his two World War II films, "Mystic River" and "Million Dollar Baby" - it's a well-made and engrossing story of a man trying to rectify his mistakes. This is ground that has been tread many times before, but it's handled here with humor and grace.