The Mule Delivers Drugs and Old Fashion Bad Filmography

The Mule (2018)

The Mule was a problem from start to finish. It is the story of a horticulturalist that put work before family, then failed at his career and became a drug mule. Clint Eastwood’s character, Earl, skipped his daughter’s wedding to go to a flower convention to win a vase and drink with his friends. Then his daughter doesn’t talk to him for 12 years, and over that time, Earl refused to accept that the times were changing and lost his business and house to foreclosure. Then he went crawling back to his family and one of his granddaughter’s shady friends directs him to local drug dealers who need drivers. At this point, the movie loses its way. Earl gets a package from three guys in a dark garage with machine guns and does his delivery. He gets his money, then pays for his granddaughter’s wedding and is painted as the hero. At this point, we get to see Eastwood creepily dance with the first beautiful women who are a third of his age. Then he does more runs to help the VFW and buy back his house, all the while dancing with more pretty women for no reason. On his third run, he finally looks at what he is hauling and is surprised that it is drugs, but continues to do it. As he continues to run drugs for the cartel, he gains their trust and is given more responsibility and a handler. The handler is then humanized and almost becomes Earl’s friend. Nothing comes of this storyline. Nothing at all. Julio, the handler, serves no purpose to the story, even though a significant amount of time is wasted on him. He was just there to get called a beaner, just like the black family on the side of the road was just there to be called Negroes, and the lesbian motorcyclists were just there to be called dykes. Actually, Julio also had the important role of bringing Earl to Mexico so Eastwood could dance with more women and lay in a bed with a topless 20-year-old. After Eastwood had his fill of dancing with pretty girls, he advances the story to his biggest run for the cartel, but he stops mid-run to stay with his ex-wife as she died of cancer. At this point, the DEA and the cartel are looking for him and nobody can find him. Because he was there for the last moments of his ex-wife, his family forgives him and then he is caught by the cartel and then the DEA. And even though he goes to prison because he was a willing participant in delivering thousands of kilograms of drugs to Chicago, his family is still supporting him and the DEA agents are sad that the old man is going to jail. Beyond all of the useless scenes and wasted characters, there were obvious plot holes like that the cartel constantly touted that they have eyes everywhere but lost track of a $20 million shipment and a cell phone that they gave Earl. And the DEA agents could have solved the case early on with basic police-work. I don’t usually recommend against seeing movies, but this movie was a gross display of Eastwood abusing his power in Hollywood. It was exploitative with a terrible protagonist and a messy plot. I left this movie very angry and give The Mule –3 out of 3 chances to not be racist or homophobic.