The Mule: Clint Eastwood’s best movie in more than 25 years

The Mule is a 2018 American crime film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also plays the lead role. The screenplay, by Nick Schenk, is based on The New York Times article “The Sinaloa Cartel’s 90-Year-Old Drug Mule” by Sam Dolnick, which recounts the true story of Leo Sharp, a World War II veteran in his 80s who became a drug courier for the Sinaloa Cartel. The Mule was released in the United States on December 14, 2018, by Warner Bros. Pictures.

It has grossed over $94 million and received mixed reviews from critics, who called it “poignant and charming” and praised Eastwood’s performance, but also noted the lack of true dramatic heft. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 66% based on 101 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The website’s critical consensus reads, “A flawed yet enjoyable late-period Eastwood entry, The Mule stubbornly retains its footing despite a few missteps on its occasionally unpredictable path.”

On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews”. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A−” on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it four out of five stars. David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a “B+” and called it Eastwood’s best in over 25 years, writing that “this soulful and deeply satisfying film — a fitting swansong, if ever there was one — makes a compelling argument that change is always possible, and that the path we’re on is never as narrow as the highway makes it look.”

In a middling review, Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, “It’s a great true story, colorfully told by Sam Dolnick in The New York Times and somewhat watered down for the screen by Nick Schenk, the still-green screenwriter who got incredibly lucky when Eastwood agreed to direct and star in his early spec, Gran Torino. And there’s obviously no one better to embody someone like Leo Sharp — the real-life criminal whose name has been changed to Earl Stone for the movie — than Eastwood, who can play stubborn, battle-scarred, casually racist characters in his sleep.”