Clint Eastwood usually plays strong willed directed character. With age he has moderated and here he is a 90 year old man who has lost his business, is estranged from his family and is not sure of where he travels next.
The internet has pulled away his long time flower growing business. In fact he has many awards and is well known in his business circles and is the center of attraction as conventions and the like. But his flower growing business has grown quiet because folks can purchase the special Lilly bulbs he has been a part of for years. Not growing in the direction of electronic knowledge he has yet to learn how to use a cell phone effectively.
With the foreclosure on his property he finds an offer to just drive into Michigan and pick up solid money.
His new found wealth allows him to junk his junky truck and purchase a new stylish Lincoln all in black. His success is impressive and by moving slowly and acting naturally, like stoping to help a couple who need a tire replaced or giving a state trooper some containers of pop corn to divert the officer from the large stash of drugs near the containers of pop corn.
A sudden change in leadership from the top of the cartel requires Eastwood’s Earl Stone to keep to a specific schedule and to be followed by two gang members to keep him on track.
His smart quick thinking in fact gets the two out of trouble with state police.
Who would question a ninety year old man who walks slowly and bends over from the shoulders.
There is little of the violence we have come to expect from Eastwood. Some gun fire occurs but we never believe that he is in trouble. Some of that tradition is what we look for in Eastwood films.
The script has a second direction which takes over late in the film. He has never placed his family over his flowers and not over his driving occupation. Even weddings don’t become more important that his work. That has left him alone with all the members of his family not communicating with him.
The two worlds collide when Mary, his wife is near death, and he suddenly moves from the planed driving route with a significant drug delivery sitting in the back of his truck. Now the DEA and the cartel are looking for him. Completely out of character he just heads to see his wife.
That is a problem with the script, it’s moves in two directions with motivation for the change near the end. There is a large gap between how Eastwood escapes from the gangsters and then how he ends his existence.
Without the usual Eastwood action and very little tension, except between him and his wife and daughter which is different than we expect, the script feels constrained and doesn’t give us enough tension to hold out attention.