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The Mule poster

Movies that feel likeThe Mule (2018)

Earl Stone, a man in his eighties, is broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business when he is offered a job that simply requires him to drive. Easy enough, but, unbeknownst to Earl, he's just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. He does so well that his cargo increases exponentially, and Earl hit the radar of hard-charging DEA agent Colin Bates.

If you loved The Mule, the closest films we have are Molly's Game (2017), A Touch of Sin (2013) and 7 Prisoners (2021). All three share The Mule's gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Black Souls (2014).

🍅 69% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Clint Eastwoodgrittycontemplative
6 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Paramount Plus Premium · Kino Film Collection

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If The Mule hit the spot, these will too

Molly's Game poster
Molly's Game
2017 · dir. Aaron Sorkin
🍅 82%★ 7.4drama · crimeParamount+

Both are built on the same subject: a true story

Molly Bloom, a young skier and former Olympic hopeful becomes a successful entrepreneur (and a target of an FBI investigation) when she establishes a high-stakes, international poker game.

A Touch of Sin poster
A Touch of Sin
2013 · dir. Jia Zhangke
🍅 95%★ 7.1crime · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: a true story

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Four people in different provinces are driven to violent ends: An angry miner is enraged by corruption in his village. A migrant discovers the possibilities of owning a firearm. A receptionist is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. A young factory worker goes from one job to the next.

7 Prisoners poster
7 Prisoners
2021 · dir. Alexandre Moratto
🍅 98%★ 7.1drama · crimeNetflix

The same mix in both: grit, then stillness

An impoverished teen seeking to escape the clutches of a human trafficker must weigh living up to his moral code against his struggle to survive.

The Drop poster
The Drop
2014 · dir. Michaël R. Roskam
🍅 88%★ 7drama · crime

Gritty crime, and it commits to that

Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living - no matter the cost.

Gran Torino poster
Gran Torino
2008 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 81%★ 8.1drama

Both are Clint Eastwood's work, and they rhyme

Disgruntled Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, Thao Lor, a Hmong teenager who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: a 1972 Gran Torino.

Black Souls poster
Black Souls
2014 · dir. Francesco Munzi
🍅 89%★ 6.8crime · drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

A former narcotics smuggler, now living peaceably in the Calabrian hills, is drawn back into his family’s drug-trade dynasty by his impetuous teenage son.

Loving Pablo poster
Loving Pablo
2017 · dir. Fernando León de Aranoa
🍅 33%★ 6.4crime · drama

Common ground: drug cartel

The film chronicles the rise and fall of the world's most feared drug lord Pablo Escobar and his volatile love affair with Colombia's most famous journalist Virginia Vallejo throughout a reign of terror that tore a country apart.

J. Edgar poster
J. Edgar
2011 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 44%★ 6.5drama · crime · history

Clint Eastwood directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Leans harder into history than The Mule does

As the face of law enforcement in the United States for almost 50 years, J. Edgar Hoover was feared and admired, reviled and revered. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career, and his life.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile poster
🍅 54%★ 6.7drama · crimeNetflix

Crime with a pulse of grit, in both cases

A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.

Changeling poster
Changeling
2008 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 61%★ 7.7crime · drama · mystery

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

The difference: Sits closer to mystery than The Mule does

Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, her quest for truth exposes a world of corruption.

The Place Beyond the Pines poster
The Place Beyond the Pines
2013 · dir. Derek Cianfrance
🍅 79%★ 7.3drama · crimeRent or buy

Both know what they want from crime

A motorcycle stunt rider considers committing a crime in order to provide for his wife and child, an act that puts him on a collision course with a cop-turned-politician.

Leviathan poster
Leviathan
2014 · dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
🍅 97%★ 7.6drama · crime

Drama of the same temperament

In a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man's arrival brings further misfortune for Kolya and his family.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Mule’s defining feeling.