Title: The Mule
XLrator Media
Director: Tony Mahony, Angus Sampson
Writers: Jaime Browne, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell
Cast: Hugo Weaving, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell, Ewen Leslie, Georgina Haig, Noni Hazlehurst, and John Noble
Running time: 103 min, Unrated (Violence, language)
IN THEATERS, VOD AND iTUNES: November 21, 2014
Based on true events. In 1983 a naive man named Ray Jenkins (Angus Sampson) who still lives at home with his parents, travels to Thailand with his soccer team. Ray’s friend Gavin (Leigh Whannell) whom is in a bit of trouble with drug dealer Pat Shepherd (John Noble), convinces Ray to take the task of swallowing 20 condoms filled with heroin and smuggling them back to Melbourne. When he arrives home, he catches the attention of airport customs who believe him to be a drug mule. He is detained by the Australian Federal Police with Croft (Hugo Weaving) giving the orders. All they need to do is wait it out until Ray’s body decides it’s time to release the cargo. Since he took a heavy duty bowel movement suppression meds when he swallowed the heroin, they’re going to be waiting awhile and every day they’re getting more impatient. His mom tries to do the right thing by sending her son some laxative laced lamb chops that get eaten by the police force and hilarity ensues. The good cop/bad cop personas switch roles unexpectedly. Word gets out that Ray’s being detained, and he gets the attention of the drug dealers, an attractive kind-hearted lawyer and corrupt cops. Ray manages to keep those butt cheeks tightly shut until he figures out how to outsmart everyone and eventually grows up in the end.
The Good: The acting was good. The story had an old-timey crime drama feel with shock-value modern day humor.
The Bad: The film did drag a few times. The waiting for Ray to take a dump is pretty excruciating since we have to watch him getting beaten by the sadistic cops. At a certain point you want to just yell at him, “take a shit already!” The scene where he has to silently re-ingest the drug bags after he has a shit attack was the worst moments ever captured on film. I had to look away and play with one of my cats while the scene was going on because it was so awful. Not necessarily bad, but it was hard to watch.
Even though The Mule takes place in 1983, the message is pretty timeless: don’t trust your friends if they ask you to do something illegal for them; you’ll end up eating shit.
Acting: A
Story: B
Technical: B
Total Rating: B+
Reviewed by: JM Willis
