 What is worth, I'm sorry for everything. You know, I'm always on the fence, whether or not Clint Eastwood has a hidden agenda in his films, or what do I mean by that? Stay tuned and you'll find out. My name is Brandon Heath Avery, and this is just my opinion. Hey, what's going on everyone? I wanna thank you so much for tuning in to my opinion slash review for the Mule. I really do appreciate it. Now the Mule stars and is directed by Clint Eastwood. I am a fan of Clint Eastwood. I like him in his films as an actor. I think he's a pretty good director. If you've never seen any of the films he's directed before, he's done 15 to 17 to Paris, which came out early this year. It was best in a true story. I thought the film was okay, but the acting was so-so because they had the real life people re-portraying their roles. He also did Sully with Tom Hanks, American Sniper with Bradley Cooper, who is also in this film, which of course we're gonna talk about, J Edgar, which was okay, and Gran Turismo, which that film pissed me off at first when I saw it in theaters because the way it did with race, but when I realized what he was doing later on in the film it became something that I appreciated. But now we have Clint Eastwood in the Mule. And this film right here, it's inspired by the story of Leo Sharp, a World War II veteran in his 80s who became the world's oldest and most prolific drug mule for the Sina Loa Cartel. Now, when I saw this film, it said that it was inspired by a 90-year-old veteran. So I don't know if he was 90 years old or he was 80 years old, but give or take a decade, I think you get the point of the film. Now, I had high expectations for this when I saw the trailers. It's nothing that I was anticipating for a long time. I saw the trailers just a number of weeks ago and I was intrigued. I was entertained by the trailers and just wanted to see what this film was about. And I'm glad I did because it was a good film. No, it actually wasn't a good film. It was a great film. And I thought Clint Eastwood did a great job in front of the camera and behind the camera. And why is that? Well, I really felt like I got to know Mr. Earl Stone. Now, I said that this film is inspired by Leo Sharp, but in this film the Mule is by the name of Earl Stone. And I really felt like I got a good sense of knowing who he was and what was important to him. And sometimes what is important to you in the world can make you or break you. And I think in this man's life it broke him because it really destroyed his family. You got to see that. You got to see his relationship with his daughter, his granddaughter, his wife, or actually his ex-wife and all his friends and family around. And you really got a sense of what was important to him. And what was important to him wasn't his family. Like he was a horrible father. He was a horrible grand, well he was a better grandfather than father much more. And he was a horrible husband. But what really was important to Earl Stone in this film or in his real life was just getting that acknowledgement from his peers. I mean, you can tell that there was something that happened to him deep back in his past that brought up some insecurities. And he just had a big dark hole that he had to feel. And he felt that hole by getting rewards and acknowledgements and accolades from all the townsmen, all the people that grew up with him and just was in his vicinity. I don't know why he wanted to get all that love and compassion from his family, but it is something that this film put on the forefront to kind of set the tone of the film and put everything in stakes and let you know what everything is worth. And I think that's what held it all together besides him actually being on the roll. Now, the supporting cast in this film is very thick. Like I said before, it does have Bradley Cooper in this film. It also has Andy Garcia, Michael Pena and Lawrence Fishburne. We've all heard of them before. We all know that they are fantastic actors. And they did a great job in this film too. Now, there isn't anything outstanding about their performers. I'm not gonna say that they move me here or move me there or they deserve some type of recognition for Golden Globe or Oscar. But I will say when I did see them on screen, I did enjoy their presence. It was just something about them that kind of set me up in my chair and just kind of let me know, hey, we're in for a good ride. This is a good movie right here with a full star study cast. One thing else about Clint Eastwood's performance and his character, L. Stone, is there was just something interesting that he did letting us know who he was and the characteristics of the person he was trying to portray and that he was kind of innocent. And I said insecure before, also just kind of ignorant. I don't know if he was just kind of running game on everybody in the film, but he was just kind of unsure of himself sometimes. This really didn't believe that he was in the situation that he could be in. Like, oh my God, this is happening to me right now. Okay, well, I'm just gonna accept it. I liked it and it just really stood out to me. We all know that this film is about drugs. He's moving drugs from El Paso to Chicago. I liked the way that was done. While that was done in the film, I liked the passage of time. It was smooth, it flowed, it was fluid. It wasn't very hard to follow at all. You kind of got a great idea of where he was going with the drugs and all that good stuff. It was easily instructions to follow. I do like everybody that was in the cartel on the United States side and the Mexican side. It gave you a good sense and good idea of how the drug game works and how important it is to be on time and the schedules that you have to follow. I liked how we got to see some of the protocol behind the scenes of the DEA and how they go about their investigations and try to bust people and try to, you know, bring down drug dealers and things like that. It was really intriguing. It gave me a perspective that I've never seen before in the film before. The film was also very funny without even trying to be. You know, I can tell that this was really Clint Eastwood's doing with his personality and the way that he always plays with race and he does with this film. And that's kind of what I meant in my intro as far as, you know, does Clint Eastwood have a hidden agenda in his films because I hate to bring his personal life into this film because that may not necessarily be fair. But if you look up his political views in real life and then you compare that to the screenplay in the dialogue that he puts in his films, you kind of wanna understand like what he's up to. I don't wanna go too dive. I don't wanna dive too deep into that right now. You can look that up for yourself, but it's just something that stood out to me. Something else that really stood out to me is the way he uses white privilege in this film and puts that on the forefront and just shows how people, how white people in this country, in this world can use their white privilege to get away with things, to take advantage of situations or just to get throughout their day. Now don't get upset with me for saying that because it is true and it is very apparent in this film. You'll just have to see it for yourself, but it's something that's blatantly obvious to me and something that I really did appreciate. There is a good amount of tension in this film. I was really wondering, you know, how he's going to get away with this. If he's gonna get away, I mean, it is based on a true story. With that being based on a true story, I like some of the elements that they brought over that they could have just ignored with, you know, this being inspired by Leo Sharp, you know, this genie was a Hortie culturalist. And if you don't know what that is, it's somewhat of a botanist, but it's someone who uses scientific knowledge to cultivate and propagate plants and then uses this knowledge to provide technical information to fruit, vegetable, and flower growers as well as farmers. And that is a plot point that they did using this film for more character development. And it just kind of made Clint Eastwood's portrayal of Earl Stone, of Leo Sharp, in a sense just stand out even brighter. There really isn't much that I can complain about this film. I pretty much loved everything about it. The performances was great. The story was great. The way it was told was great. I liked the family dynamic, especially at the beginning where there was some type of barbecue or party. And there's a fallout between family members. And like I said before, it really does set the tone. It really does let you know who Earl Stone was, who Clint Eastwood's character was, and you know, his impact on the people around him or who supposedly care about him. If I had to rate the mule out of a one out of 10, I'm gonna give this film a nine out of 10. Yes, a nine out of 10. I thought it was great. I really did enjoy it. And it's actually one of the better films that I've seen in all of 2018. But if you see the film, there is one thing that I would like to know how you feel. With Clint Eastwood's character, is he being genuine with his representation of race? Or is he mocking the oppressed? Let me know down in the comment section. Guys, that is just my opinion. Have you seen the mule or do you wanna see it? Have I turned you on? Have I turned you off? Do you agree with me or do you disagree with me? Let me know down in the comment section below. Let's get this conversation going and keep it flowing. If you like this video, go ahead and give me the thumbs up. If you don't, that's fine. But you can still subscribe to my channel. You can also look me up on social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all that good stuff. It's right there at the bottom of the screen. And I made it very easy by providing links to all that down in the description box below. But guys, I just wanna thank you again for tuning into my opinion slash review for the mule written, not written, starring and directed by Clint Eastwood. And before you go, don't forget that my name is Brennan Keith-Avery. And that's just my opinion. Peace.