Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, Manny Montana, Taissa Farmiga, Andy Garcia, Alison Eastwood, Michael Pena, Jill Flint, Laurence Fishburne, Clifton Collins Jr., Dianne Wiest, Ignacio Serricchio, Noel Gugliemi, Robert LaSardo, Katie Gill, Eugene Cordero.
There will come a time when the cinematic world will be without Clint Eastwood and Dianne Wiest as a shining examples of how actors of a certain era on screen can still convey such depths of emotion with a single look down the barrel of the camera that you cannot but feel certain emotions come to the forefront of your mind as you watch them effortlessly portray life. Awe, grace, hope, they all have their dynamic hold on the cinema goer, and whilst actors such as Michael Pena, Laurence Fishburne and Bradley Cooper bring a wonderful passion to the screen, it is to a golden generation that perhaps we owe a life-long debt of enjoying cinema to.
On the face of it The Mule should serve as a warning to those tempted by the lure of big money in which to solve their problems, the reason that drug running is a crime is because of the untold misery it brings in its wake and that any involvement in it deserves the full force of the law. There is though the other side of the coin in some people’s minds that it is an offence is because, like the old boot-leggers who ran the risk of supplying moonshine and alcohol to the speak-easies during prohibition, the government receives no tax, and whilst it is an evil, it is easy to understand why, in the hands of someone like Earl Stone, the proceeds end up doing some good, even repairing damage caused by society and Government ineptitude.
The Mule is a kick to the senses, you cannot but help feel contempt for the cartels of this world who feed on the misery of addiction, the suffering that drugs bring to the doors of families but it also makes you look at Clint Eastwood’s portrayal of dedicated horticulturist Earl Stone as heroic, of putting two fingers up to a system which has seen government espouse the internet at the cost of ruining other lives; cheap and nasty, both drug trafficking and government killing off more people with their own agenda, the parallels are astonishing.
Clint Eastwood, perhaps rightly, doesn’t star in that many films anymore, indeed this is his first outing in front of the camera since 2012, and yet the style, the absolute panache of the man has not wavered, the craft is undisputed and whilst the actor is nearing the grand age of 90, he can still command a story and a film with special cause. It is a demonstration of his performance, and alongside Dianne Wiest as his ex-wife Mary, that the film is as captivating, as brutal, as charming as it is.
A film that asks you to see the world through two different, and polarising, views, The Mule doesn’t just kick out, it frames the hybrid nature of suffering from above and below perfectly. Captivating!
Ian D. Hall