The Mule Review

The Mule is a film which comes directed by Clint Eastwood who also stars in the film alongside Bradley Cooper, Manny Montana, Taissa Farmiga, Michael Pena, Andy Garcia and Laurence Fishburne. The Mule is a film based on a story which appeared in the New York Times called “The Sinaloa Cartel’s 90-Year Old Drug Mule”.

The Mule is a film about a 90 year old man who as well as being quite old, is low on money and decides to start transporting drugs for his local gang as a delivery man. The man becomes so successful at what he does that he eventually starts transporting up to $3 million dollars in goods in his truck. His work is quite impressive and soon attracts the attention of the major crime bosses in Mexico who then start pressuring the old man to deliver more and more cargo, each time riskier than the last.

Going in to see The Mule this week, I was quite excited about what this film could be. Clint Eastwood is of course quite a well known actor, but he’s also been an excellent director lately. With recent films such as American Sniper, Jersey Boys and Gran Torino being just a few of his recent works, I knew something special could be here with The Mule. The Mule also comes with quite a decent cast of actors including Bradley Cooper, Michael Pena, Andy Garcia and Laurence Fishburne. A decent cast and a great director makes me think that this is possibly a pretty great film and I have to say, I was not let down at all. Coming out the cinema last night after I was saw this, I was very pleased.

The acting in this is excellent. Clint Eastwood seems to do well in almost every film that he’s in, but in this one I really enjoyed his performance. I guess it does help that his character, Earl, is well developed. In the film you slowly learn more and more about the type of life Earl lived, including his past with his family and the way he behaved in his life to get him into the situation he now finds himself in. As the film went on I found myself really caring for Earl. As a character he is quirky and isn’t always necessarily politically correct in his behaviour, but he’s quite interesting to follow.

The film also has some great performances from Bradley Cooper who seems to be good in practically anything he appears in. There’s also a little bit of screen time for Laurence Fishburne, who in every movie I watch that he’s in, I always thinks he needs more screen time than he gets. Andy Garcia and Michael Pena also do well with their characters.

Overall The Mule is one of the better movies you can choose to go and see at the cinema this January. I’m surprised actually that this movie seems to have been left out completely for this years awards ceremonies. I saw The Mule last night in a theatre that was completely full and I noticed that audiences seemed quite pleased coming out of this one. The Mule is an interesting film, even more so because the events of this film are based on true story about a 90 year old drug delivery driver. The directing is good, the main character of Earl is well developed and it’s also got a decent cast of actors.