In what felt like -- and could very well be -- his swan song, Clint Eastwood reminds us of everything great about him and everything not so great. For better and worse, then, we are presented a film that both works and doesn't in many ways, but one that I personally liked far better than anything he's done since J. Edgar, seven years ago.
The Mule's title refers to its main character, Earl Stone, a 90-year-old Illinois man whose life is in shambles. Having made a career of traveling and selling and networking, his family has all but abandoned him for abandoning them. Facing foreclosure and the disappointment of his granddaughter (Taissa Farmiga), he accepts a job transporting drugs for a Mexican cartel. His runs earn him lots of money, and the increasing payments prove hard to ignore; as people around him can certainly use funds, he becomes a sort of benevolent Robin Hood, providing means for his granddaughter to be married, to re-buy his house, to renovate the local VFW, to help his ailing ex-wife (Dianne Wiest). Unfortunately, a DEA strike force (including Bradley Cooper, Michael Pena, and Laurence Fishburne) is closing in on him, and the cartel will not suffer any delays.
Sound thrilling? It should -- and the oft-played trailer for this film certainly made it out to be a nail-biter. Add to this setup the fact that it's all loosely based on a real-life case (on a man from Michigan City, not far from where my parents live!) and I was ready for a masterful return to form from the man who expertly delivered staples like Mystic River and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, mystery-thrillers like Changeling and Blood Work. Add to it his recent (and much weaker) politically-minded, true-life flicks, and we reasonably supposed this would be a radical return to form, if uncomfortably timely.
I generally don't care much for Eastwood's acting, though I deeply admire the niche he carved for himself, dedicating his career to playing anti-heroes as heroes. And while I similarly admire the varied body of directorial work he's amassed, I can't help but feel constantly disappointed at his plodding workmanship evident in every picture. Not unlike Ron Howard -- but with far less craftsmanship and far more bewilderingly popular response -- Eastwood tends to overdo his films, draining what's engaging about the real (often fascinating) stories and smothering them in tense atmosphere and, yes, more than a little of his political and social biases.
Unfortunately, the film -- which could and probably should have been structured in terms of plot -- is lugubriously slow. Melancholia can certainly work in a character study, but this film is a little too stretched for that. Eastwood delivers a powerhouse performance -- one of his very finest -- as old Earl, the complex old man who is superficially likable and deceptively caring. His charisma belies deep insecurities and personal failures that eventually break him. It's a great performance, but one that Eastwood as a director treats as laughably lovable; that it most certainly is not, and it's deeply disturbing to sit in a theater of white folk laughing at the crazy, silly old man who unapologetically womanizes, praises himself for helping some "Negroes" with their flat tire, and insults Latinos with the handful of Spanish words he knows. They laugh because Eastwood laughs, not as the actor or even character, but as the director.
Final verdict: Go see this movie, or don't. Like his performance, or don't. Like the story, or don't. Like his direction, or don't (...actually, no, just don't). If you like Eastwood already, you'll probably like this one; if you don't care about him -- in any capacity -- you may not like this one either. I personally found this to be infinitely more engaging and entertaining than American Sniper or Sully or that ridiculous-looking gimmick he churned out last winter about the train.
IMDb: The Mule
No comments:
Post a Comment