The Mule (2012) Reviews

• A gritty, badly acted look at immigration

  kenyajon2013-03-05

  Border Run is a film, as you would imagine, about people crossing the border from Mexico to the USA. A US reporter (Sharon Stone) seeks to find her brother (Billy Zane), who has been working for a relief organisation in Mexico, after he disappears. She uncovers the illegal world of border crossing gangs and drug runners. The storyline of the film is quite reasonable and the film takes a very gritty look at the border crossing, those who are trying to help and those who are trying to get rich. Stone is the lead role and she does not deliver. With a different actress the film could have been much better. Stone is just not believable and, at times, I found her performance almost embarrassing. However, other performances are good and sympathy is generated for the harsh and horrific experience that those who seek to cross the US border face. Worth a watch? Probably not.

• A movie that is just OK but the acting is good. Really makes you feel contradicting emotions and that makes it better. I say B

  cosmo_tiger2013-02-12

  "Thousands try to cross into the US illegally every year. Each person carries a story, this is one of them and I didn't know at the time but this story is also mine." American reporter Sofie (Stone) has just got a big break in the story she is working on. Excited she calls her brother and hears gun shots. Trying to find out what happened leads her to Mexico and a ring of human smuggling and violence. From there things get more and more dangerous, and it's all true. I will start by saying that this was better then I was expecting. While still a B type movie the acting wasn't bad and the movie really made you feel strong emotions. One of them is anger toward the smugglers, the other is anger toward the border guards. To me the movie made me feel mixed emotions. Anger toward the smugglers and anger toward the US policies as well as agreeing with the policies. I wasn't sure who is in the right in this movie and that's what makes a good movie. One that makes you feel something you didn't before. I recommend it for that reason, but the movie itself is just OK. Overall, the emotions you feel make the movie well worth seeing. I say B.

• Worst film I have seen in a long time

  absunshine992013-04-05

  It is rare that I give up on a movie within 30 minutes but in this case, I was so unimpressed that I did just that. I have enjoyed some Sharon Stone movies in the past, especially her performance in Casino, but I found her acting to be abysmal in this case. As another reviewer pointed out, this may well be in great part due to the direction she was given. I'm not familiar with the work of the director and will likely avoid any of his films in the future. I cannot comment on the story itself as it did not really have a chance to develop in the short time I was able to stand it. I would advise against watching this film unless you are hell bent on keeping track of the lead actor's career which, going by this effort, is heading deep South.

• Potential squashed by Tagliavini and Stone

  tcgraff19882013-07-15

  As most of the reviews on this film state, the film has great potential but falls short due to certain performances. Border Run does a great job at depicting just what crossing the border entails for many illegal immigrants. However, Sharon Stone does not deliver at all. She is both over-dramatic and detached from her character. The acting may actually bring out a chuckle in what is certainly not a comedic movie. All the blame cannot be put on Stone as it is the director's job to, well, direct the actors' performances. Tagliavini not only misses this mark with Stone but also with the story-line. Certain areas that warrant more time and detail are simply brushed over and some that should be short and to-the-point are dragged out for simple shock value. It is in my opinion and those who watched it with me: This was a great story line with many twists and surprises, and even a satisfying ending, that was completely ruined by bad acting and even worse directing.

• Tedious

  albrechtcm2013-03-01

  Although this supposedly deals with the border problems between Mexico and the US, this particular film only exploits them in a series of clichéd plot twists and turns that we've all seen oh! so many times before. Add to that the lacunae in the plot and you have a film that is downright tedious to watch. Sharon Stone has done a lot better in the past and does well in most of this but there are some scenes where her acting is so over the top that it's almost laughable. Maybe we have to blame a lot of this on the director. Some of the more obvious plot holes involve a cigar butt that is never connected to its smoker throughout the entire film until at the very last minute when he decides to light a second cigar and then there is a shack the size of an outdoor toilet. Hunters watch three or four men run inside while their "coyote" stays outside. They look inside and no one is there. Now since there is no place to go but down, you might think someone would try checking beneath the little rug, but no, they'd rather chain up the remaining man and torture him for days to get him to tell them where the other men went. At the moment the men disappeared inside it's obvious how they escaped, but no one every thinks of that until the very end which took a long time coming. Then there's the maudlin bit about having to go to Mexico and bring back the daughter of a fallen friend. We saw that one coming too many pictures back. What could have been a statement on the problems facing not only the DEA but the poor people who try to get into the United States, turns out to be just another semi-action flick without much purpose at all.