Cecil says: We went to see The Mule because that’s what was on at the lovely old Rex Theatre in Charlton, Victoria. I love this sort of community cinema, run by the people of Charlton, with just three screenings a week, so it was a shame to see only about 20 bums on the 400 or so seats, especially with a beautiful grand piano on the stage before the film and a pianist picking out some tunes to create a great atmosphere ahead of the movie.
This was Clint Eastwood’s latest offering. Boy, he’s getting
on now and he plays a 90 year old retired day lily horticulturalist Earl Stone,
who gets involved in drug running, when he needs some cash after the banks
foreclose on his property.
There’s a sense that there is a lot about Eastwood himself
in the storyline. When work or a hobby is all-consuming and family comes second
through the decades, there comes a point when regrets start to pile up and a
need to reconcile as life comes towards its final straight.
For a film involving Mexican drug cartels and police busts,
there is surprisingly little violence and gun fire on screen, so although as
with any drug-related film, there is an increasing sense of foreboding as Stone
gets nearer and nearer to being caught, it’s not one of those films where you
shudder at the blood and gore or the easy use of firepower to resolve conflict.
That said, it is still a very male film. Women don’t get
much of a look-in, except perhaps the ex-wife, who also somehow didn’t come
across as very real – I begin to wonder if Eastwood has ever created a female
character that shows he really gets women. If his ex-wife held a candle for him
all these years, surely there would have been more contact and she wouldn’t
have just walked out like she apparently did all those years ago.
And then there is the slightly weird scene where 90 year old
Stone hires in two young prostitutes for his motel room; it’s a brief scene,
but somehow felt like an Eastwood fantasy being played out, along with his
antics with the girls at the Mexican cartel party at another point.
It’s really well filmed, though, and keeps the audience
interested, with a good storyline running through it. And it was quite nice to
read that it was based on the true story of a WW2 vet in the 1980s who got
involved in drug-running for the Mexican cartels. It would be interesting to
know how much of the character is based on the true Mule and how much on
Eastwood, given what I have said in this review about it feeling like it being
a lot about Clint. Did he relate to this guy? Or did he just embellish the story
to fit with his own life story?
***
Bea says: I was a bit reluctant to see this and only went because of its location as we really wanted to visit the Charlton cinema and this was what was showing there on the day we could go. Although generally in my experience, Eastwood films are usually worth a watch, so I gave it a go.
Actually I quite enjoyed it I liked the story a lot - the premise of a pretty straight old guy in the word of drug running and cartels was great, and gave me quite a few chuckles. I also liked Stone's stoic approach to eventually being caught and imprisoned - a good life lesson in taking one's just desserts.
Down sides - few really, except for its woeful potential scoring on the Bechtel test....
Very diverting. Recommended if you have time to kill; would be a good one to watch with with older relatives too.
***.5
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