Sometimes, often based on previews, a movie does not, or cannot, live up to the expectations it creates.  For me, this happens with The Mule, Clint Eastwood’s drama about an elderly man who becomes a drug runner for a Mexican cartel.  Inspired by true events, the film would, I hoped, permit Clint with a grand opportunity to wow us all with an indelible acting job as a good man who finds himself trapped in an untenable position, and then does something dramatic about it.  But that isn’t what happens at all.

Clint Eastwood’s film is much more sensibly realistic than my expectations promised.  Earl Stone (Eastwood) is a horticulturist who, though once fairly successful, has lost his family and his daylily farm.  He’s a hard-working guy who chose a field which simply isn’t profitable enough to keep him in business.  He contacts his estranged family (who reject him again) and follows a tip to make some money, leading him to the opportunity to drive drugs from Mexico to Chicago.  At first it’s a one-time deal, but the lure of easy money is too difficult to ignore, and he is tasked with delivering ever larger and more expensive shipments.  And the FBI is on the lookout for the new courier.

Vulnerability is the key to The Mule‘s intent.  Earl Stone needs the money to pull his farm out of foreclosure.  He needs the money to help his local buddies, and, eventually, to pay for his ex-wife’s (Dianne Wiest) funeral expenses.  He’s a good guy who shares his sudden good fortune, but who steadfastly ignores the illegal aspects of what he is doing.  And even though that follows the actual history of the incidents upon which this movie is based, Stone’s moral vacuity is troubling.  Sure, he has integrity to see the job through, foiling the FBI in the process, but I was hoping for an Eastwood character who would realize the error of his ways, strike a deal with the handsome FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) and double-cross the immoral drug cartel.  Nope.

I think Eastwood deserves credit for portraying, and directing himself as, an unusually vulnerable character, and trading on his tough guy image to make a realistic movie about a guy who — let’s face it — could be a lot of us, given the monetary benefit.  But it simply isn’t the Eastwood that I expected to see.  So while I’m disappointed that the story didn’t match my imagination regarding the premise, I must admit that it’s a pretty good film anyway.  It just isn’t Clint Eastwood’s valedictory cinematic statement, which I hope is still to come.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  28 January 2019.