The Mule

Ein kalter Five O’Clock Tea ohne einen notwendigen dramatischen Drive. Interessant ist der Film nur wegen Eastwoods Persönlichkeit und seinem Greis, dessen Charakter umstritten ist. Als Ehemann, Vater und Opa versucht er, die Beziehungen in der Familie zu verbessern. Diese Ebene ist nicht stark und schon überhaupt nicht originell. Die Thriller-Geschichte mit dem Schmuggeln wirkt im Rahmen von heutigen Genre-Standards zwar sympathisch altertümlich, ist aber nicht hinreißend. Die Negativgestalten sind nicht genug scary und wenn sie unseren "Helden“ bedrohen, fürchtet man sich um ihn nicht so sehr. Vielleicht auch deswegen, weil er kaum jemandem in seiner Geschichte fehlen würde. (24.12.2018)

Das langsame Erzählen ist für Clint Eastwood charakteristisch. Und ich kann nicht bestätigen, dass je älter er ist, umso langwieriger seine Geschichten sind. Die Atmosphäre im The Mule ist sehr ähnlich wie in Gran Torino und damals war Clint doch um zehn Jahre jünger. Der einzige Nachteil ist die Tatsache, dass die langsame Erzählung verursacht, dass man nach einer halben Stunde immer noch keine durchdachte Handlung erkennen kann. Aber Clint schaute ich trotzdem mit Freude zu und folgte jedem seiner Schritte und Routen, die er quer Amerika unternommen hat. Dass er extrem naiv ist, muss man mit Abstand betrachten. Gewissen Funken hat dieser Film also doch, und die Ruhe und die Sicherheit in Clints seiner Seele sind unglaublich. Die Zuschauer können kaum fassen, dass Clint hier fast neunzig Jahre alt ist, und dabei durch die unendlichen Roads im amerikanischen Jeep rast. Da geht es einem richtig gut… (03.07.2020)

It’s so utterly likeable, old-fashioned, conventional and purely Eastwood that it cannot be blamed for the idyllic ending that does not fit the material. (25.03.2019)

Clint Eastwood is still in fine form at 88, both as a director and actor, and he's chosen a decently attractive subject, one of the oldest drug smugglers ever. Eastwood does a great job, dancing, drinking, having a threesome with two babes, moving drugs in huge quantities back and forth, and managing to properly wisecrack. The pair of agents, Bradley Cooper and Michael Peña, always on Clint's heels, are also very good. A very easy-going and enjoyable film that will entertain, thrill, move and put a smile on your face. Those who like Eastwood and films about cartels and drugs will not be disappointed. 80% (12.02.2019)

At an impressive stage of his career, Clint Eastwood delivers a professional performance both behind the camera and in front of it. He continues to make films because he still enjoys doing it and because his position in the American film industry allows him to do so. What he showcases in The Mule he has already done in the past (much) better and more convincingly. His film lacks tempo and elements of sentiment creep into it. The routine execution can't be overlooked, but you can't blame the old man for portraying his social type, a guy who has forgotten the times when things were still in their place, when there were two genders and men knew how to change tires, he has been honing it for several decades now. Overall impression: 55%. (09.07.2021)

An honest farewell picture about a florist who realizes in the end that family is more important than work. In terms of plot, this is a classic rise-and-fall story, but with the title role played by 90-year-old Clint, who thoroughly enjoys himself. Mr. Charisma sees no problem in taking two hookers to his motel room or calling black people “niggers"; he just puts on his innocent old-man face and gets away with it. He has a good relationship with the boys from the cartel until they start to talk about efficiency and growth. He even learns how to write texts. Humorous sequences alternate incredibly naturally with suspenseful and downright sad ones. Old school. I have a clear retirement plan. (27.03.2019)

A slow, old-school ride in the style of Gran Torino, in other words, the typical Eastwood signature of the new millennium. A story about family and life experiences from the mouth of a grumpy old man, this time with some drugs and cartels mixed in here in there. Eastwood, however, pulls it off with a refinement and grace all his own. It's nothing we haven't seen in many more animalistic and dramatic variations, but few can season it with such a dose of life experience and satirical insight. It's a pity there are so many great actors and so little room for their characters. Everything stands and falls on Eastwood, and maybe that's a bit of a shame. Plus for Andy Garcia, aka the man with the golden gun. (15.04.2019)

Danke, Opa. – Gern geschehen, Lesben. Clint Eastwood ist immer eine gute Wahl. Obwohl The Mule (wenn ich ihn mit den letzten Filmen vergleiche, in denen er gespielt hat) nicht so stark wie Gran Torino oder Million Dollar Baby ist, ist er zum Glück viel besser als Back In The Game. Es ist ein unterhaltsamer und rührender Film mit einer behaglichen Stimmung, in dem es auch hier und da Spannung gibt. Die Hauptrolle sowie die Regie hat ein unglaublich bewundernswerter Kerl übernommen. Earl Stone ist einer von seinen sympathischsten Helden. (26.03.2019)

A safe bet. Even though the family sub-plot almost surprises in its unsurprisingness, developing into inadequately fairytale morality, and heading overall towards an inevitable finale, I enjoyed it and was even moved at times. The legendary personality of the director/actor (especially the later) is evident in every line uttered with gusto and in every camera movement, with a narration that never grinds, the likeable evolution of Earl’s motivations and the position of the investigators, so the slightly repetitive scheme gradually becomes more dramatic and, despite the perhaps exaggerated laxity, you can feel in the story an old man’s sincere recapitulation of a life that cannot be lived again and whose errors cannot be mended. Clint is great again, you will get used to his character, laugh with him and feel sorry for him. And the solid cast of known actors in secondary roles makes it even more pleasant. 80% (04.02.2020)

The Mule setzt nicht auf pure Rohheit und unerbittliche Depression wie Gran Torino oder Million Dollar Baby. Eastwoods neuester Film hat einen ziemlich entspannten Unterton, was angesichts der Schmuggel- und Kartellthematik wie ein Misserfolg, ja sogar wie ein Oxymoron erscheinen mag, aber das Gegenteil ist der Fall. Clint schafft es, zu tanzen, zu singen und Sprüche zu klopfen wie ein junger Mann und hier und da ein paar ein paar Zentner Drogen zu schmuggeln. Abgesehen von der Schmuggelei konzentrierte sich der Film auch auf das Thema Familienbeziehungen, und obwohl die Filmemacher manchmal mit Emotionen spielten, habe ich diese Ebene dennoch begrüßt und hatte nichts dagegen. Es ist nicht Clints Meisterwerk, aber der Film ist immer noch spannend, unterhaltsam und bewegend - und das ist es, worauf es im Kino ankommt. Und das Tüpfelchen auf dem i ist die absolut großartige Besetzung. (21.03.2019)

If there had also been a lot of smoking in this movie, it would definitely have been Jaroslav Kubera's favorite film. The most annoying thing about the film is that it tries to sell itself as the outsider story of an old fart in a present incomprehensible to him, doing so at a time when social demands under the banner of the winning slogan "Make America Great Again" call for exactly these types of characters and roles. Not to mention how much the semi-dead and nearly immobile Eastwood, relishing in spouting controversial minority epithets, which he qualifies as his right given his advanced age, resembles that unfortunate creature in our country sitting in Prague Castle. Who knows if it was more due to Schenk or to Eastwood, but the film's seemingly conciliatory toothlessness then permanently suggests that, while no one has anything against lesbians or blacks, a time when old grease monkeys begin losing their honest, sweat-stained jobs to the Internet is the same as a time in which it has become no longer desirable to call lesbians dykes and blacks negroes. So let's not be fooled for a second that this film doesn't do politics. You can try to retreat into comfortable escapism and get swept up in the story, but I don't recommend that either, because the film is not even able to exploit its plot holes for the sake of entertainment, but instead does exactly the opposite. The boring Pilcher-esque part with the late coming together of the family (yes, even featuring cancer) is annoying in itself. But if you have to keep thinking that none of this would have happened if a Mexican cartel had been so kind as to place a GPS tracker in the car carrying three kilos of coke for them, it's practically unbearable. It's unbearable even to mention the police work, which is actually based on information from a single informant. Fans of early Harmony Korine or Gaspar Noé will surely get what they came for in the scenes where the undead Eastwood, with the light already shining through his eyes from the other side, gets wild with the ladies. (19.06.2019)

Clint Eastwood has failed to disappoint me yet again. He wasn’t trying to deny his age and didn’t embarrass himself in desperate attempts at action scenes. Many an elderly action hero should learn a lesson from him so that they wouldn’t make a mockery of themselves. Anyway, back to the film, Eastwood's hero got to the other side of the law, and he did it gracefully for his age. The pace was far from frantic, yet I didn't get bored for a second and had a great time. (11.08.2019)

Here we go again with another movie from good old Clint Eastwood. His directorial signature is easily recognizable even here, yet it is not boring at all. At his venerable age, he can afford to be a little sentimental and take a story from the drug cartel milieu with a light humorous touch and without too many brutal action scenes. Also, from an acting standpoint, Eastwood steals the whole movie for himself, but I don't mind it one bit, quite the opposite. (80%) (30.10.2022)