‘It’s just time is all. I could buy everything, but I couldn’t buy time...’
Clint Eastwood is perhaps underrated as a director. Due to his sheer stature in the industry and his achievements as an actor, his second life as an exemplary director is unfairly overlooked. A filmography that includes The Unforgiven, Mystic River and Gran Torino simply cannot be ignored, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Eastwood is the master of finding a simple, yet compelling, story and telling that story in a clear and competent way. His films aren’t showy, but they are always eminently watchable. Eastwood embarked on The Mule (in which he is also the leading man) at the grand old age of 88. An astonishing achievement.
Earl Stone (Eastwood) is a man who is seemingly coming to the end of his autumn years. With a proud creer behind him, but also a flawed personal life, Stone is given an opportunity to provide for his family by a Mexican drugs cartel looking for an unassuming mule to transport cash and cocaine across state lines. Hot on his tale is Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper), a driven DEA agent determined to take the cartel down.
This is a very different Clint Eastwood to the cranky old man who snarled his way through Gran Torino. His Earl Stone (based on real life drug mule Leo Sharp) is softly spoken and mild mannered, and Eastwood plays on his reputation as a hard case, as well as the general perception of the elderly. He is constantly condescended to, underestimated or ignored, and this is what allows Stone to get away with it for so long. The supporting cast are solid, but they really only exist to service Eastwood – not that this ever feels like an indulgent project.
Remarkably, Eastwood has already released one film since this (Richard Jewell) and he is in post production on another. He has been quietly releasing an exceptional body of work over the last two decades as a director, and the cinematic landscape will suffer when he’s gone. For now, let’s enjoy him while he’s still around.