(Credit: Netflix)

Netflix has a good habit of dusting off a film that meanders its way back into the spotlight. This week, it is the Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper starrer The Mule that has found itself trending.

This film is ranked at number six on the platform’s global Top 10 charts and is catching the attention of people who may have skipped it back in 2018. It is not exactly the kind of movie you expect to dominate the algorithm in 2025, but somehow this thriller crime drama has done just that.

So what is the fuss about? The Mule follows Earl Stone, a man in his late eighties whose once-successful flower business is in tatters and whose family life is in tatters. When he runs out of money and out of options, he comes across a job that seems simple enough: driving packages from one place to another.

The catch, of course, is that the packages belong to a Mexican cartel and are filled with cocaine. Because Earl looks harmless. You know, like a sweet old man with no criminal record, and hence he becomes the perfect courier, slipping past authorities while quietly stacking cash.

But this is not a fast-paced gangster flick. Eastwood, who both stars and directs, lets the story unfold with a kind of melancholy restraint. We see Earl enjoying the spoils of his runs, paying for family milestones, and trying to mend broken relationships. All that while being aware of the danger that’s building. On the other side, Bradley Cooper plays a DEA agent circling closer, determined to expose the mysterious new mule moving product through the Midwest.

Why is The Mule climbing the charts now?

Part of it is timing: Netflix added the film in several markets recently, and the audience is (obviously) curious about Eastwood’s later work. A real cinephile knows that Eastwood never runs out of style. You see, reviews back in 2018 were mixed. Some praised Eastwood’s performance, while others felt the pacing dragged. But streaming has given The Mule a second life.

Maybe viewers today are more willing to sit with a slower, character-driven story, especially one led by an actor-director with decades of cinematic weight behind him.

It helps that the film is loosely based on the real story of Leo Sharp, a World War II veteran who actually ran drugs for the Sinaloa cartel well into his eighties. That real-life edge adds an extra layer of intrigue, even if Eastwood takes plenty of liberties in his version.

So yes, The Mule is not your regular explosive action sequence movie, but that might be why it is working now. It is a quieter kind of thriller which relies on the choices of a man near the end of his life. And maybe that is the secret behind its Netflix climb. In a sea of noisy content, sometimes a slow, reflective story comes in and captures people’s attention.