Critics Slam Clint Eastwood’s ‘Mule’ as Racist

Hollywood routinely creates characters you’d lock up in jail if you could.

Think Walter White, Jack Sparrow and countless other antiheroes who break the law (and much worse) while creating mayhem wherever they go. And what about all those films featuring hit men with hearts of gold?

Tell it to the loved ones of their targets.

What’s the cultural response to these deeply flawed souls? No judgments, either from pearl-clutching scribes, Social Justice Warriors or pop culture critics.

Along comes Clint Eastwood’s crusty character in “The Mule,” and suddenly some film critics are aghast the codger is allowed to grace the big screen at all.

Eastwood plays Earl Stone, a World War II veteran who takes a gig as a drug mule to make ends meet. The film, co-starring Michael Pena, Bradley Cooper, Dianne Wiest and Laurence Fishburne, is based on a true story. It’s Eastwood’s first leading role since 2012’s “Trouble with the Curve.”

The icon had little trouble drawing a crowd (again). “The Mule” earned a respectable $17 million during its opening weekend along with some very positive reviews. Other critics saw things differently, but not from a strictly creative lens.

They cried foul over a movie featuring a protagonist who spouts crude, racist blather.

A site called HipLatina.com excoriated both the movie and its elderly star.

Clint Eastwood is old AF. I get it. But is that supposed to make it okay that The Mule is a lazy piece of racist nonsense? The entire film plays like a morality tale whose main point seems to be, “You can be a really terrible person, but you might have an opportunity to change, no matter how old you are.”

Well, yes. Change is a critical factor in drama. Audiences routinely engage with flawed characters who are allowed to grow, no matter their age. Some hit men even stop hitting their targets by the end of their respective films.

The critic then plays the Race Card to attack “The Mule.”

At its core, it’s a movie about an old white man trying to avoid slipping into irrelevancy. Sound familiar?

That obscure site isn’t the only one demanding the film’s main character is flat out wrong. This major critic takes a more destructive step.

Katie Walsh, a syndicated film critic with Tribune News Service, declares the film’s literal release to be, well, wrong.

Regardless, hundreds of people are responsible for “The Mule,” who very much should have known better than to release this bizarre, offensive debacle.

Since when is it a critic’s job to tell movie studios a film is not meant to be released?

Walsh is temporarily wooed by a progressive thread in “The Mule.” Then she remembers the film’s star/director is a Republican.

Cue the fainting couch!

There’s an interesting anti-capitalist strain here, but then you remember who made it and think twice.

“The Mule” almost told an “accepted” storyline… but then it went off the rails.

Not to be outdone, the Leftist Variety.com offered up this SJW-approved review. The critic fears characters like Earl Stone will be able to speak their mind in future films, too.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with presenting bigoted people on-screen, since heaven knows they exist in real life, but the trouble with “The Mule” is that it invites audiences to laugh along with Earl’s ignorance. From here, it’s no great stretch to imagine a movement — call it “Make Hollywood Great Again” — advocating for movies in which politically incorrect characters like the ones Eastwood has played for most of his career will be free to speak their minds again.

We laugh, in part, because we know Earl’s language is inappropriate. We get the context, and nervously chuckle at his antiquated ways. Oh, and it’s called character development.

The critic goes on, saying it’s wrong to make Eastwood’s racist character likable. Does this critic bemoan how the villains in “Suicide Squad” could be likable, too? Or even, gasp, sexy, like the villainous Harley Quinn?

What about “Bonnie & Clyde.” They robbed banks, remember? That’s a far worse sin that using a racially insensitive comment.

Or is it?

Today’s Leftist scolds want more than just ugly language wiped from our vernacular. They dig their heels in elsewhere, cheering Republican figures getting chased from restaurants and silenced by other methods.

Just ask Ben Shapiro.

A small but growing number of film critics fall into this camp. Their reviews increasingly reflect this worldview, even those who purportedly work for “neutral” news outlets.

The majority of film critics, to be fair, judged “The Mule” on its artistic merits. Some applauded Eastwood’s latest work. Others found flaws in it. Bravo to both approaches.

For a select few, featuring an old timer who shares the ignorant views of his generation marks the movie as not just unacceptable but downright dangerous.

Meanwhile, they collectively shrug over the killers, thieves and outlaws who also populate movies today.

The post Critics Slam Clint Eastwood’s ‘Mule’ as Racist appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

from Hollywood in Toto https://ift.tt/2SdanRb
https://ift.tt/2URYAJD