'Cry Macho' Review: Ol' man Clint can still do most things he did when he was Blondie
Spoilers for 'Cry Macho'
He might be wheezing, puffing, rasping, a bit disoriented and a tad clunky with his dialogue delivery in 'Cry Macho', but Clint Eastwood at 91 still has the acting chops, and the wrinkled skin still shows a musculature hard-earned by some serious benching back in the day. He might not be Dirty Harry, but he's an older, wiser, and still eerily fast version of Blondie. And this time he's on a mission. Nothing can distract him, not even a seductive senora who's perpetually drunk. You still can't punch him and expect him to take one because he's old, he's quick and he's not one to back down when he sees a swing incoming.
And despite all of this, 'Cry Macho' is still slow, and honestly, doesn't do much to add to his decorated filmography. The Western set in 1979 has all the elements to take you back in time — magnificent landscapes made even more picturesque, some slide guitar music, and a cast led by Eastwood that just does enough to make the movie a passable affair.
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Eastwood, directing and starring in the movie is a man with a task. He's Mike Milo, a retired, gnarly Texas rodeo rider out to find the son of his former boss (Dwight Yoakam) from Mexico, even if it means he has to tear down the city. The flick has been on the script stage for a few years and ironically, the veteran had declined it then as he thought he was too young to play the role. However, he's back and he's helmed it. The opening minutes tell you everything about Milo.
Rafa (Eduardo Minett) is a scruffy and gutsy 16-year old with a rooster 'Macho' as his companion. That is one animal that can fight, And Milo has no time for Rafa's antics. The kid pretty much doesn't want to go back to his mother, and her thugs, and is okay to be delivered to his pop. Both, pardon, all three of the heroes run into car thieves, trigger-happy villains who want Milo's truck. There's also some deviation in the form of Natalia Traven's Marta, who they befriend.
'Cry Macho' is a decent flick. There's no blood splattered all over the screen, and there are phases when the acting sort of falls flat. Eastwood is old, but he still manages to get a healthy flirting thing going with Marta. In all of this, the biggest achievement for Milo is a sense of purpose for what he considers a disappointing life to have spent. The flick, where your popcorn ends by the time you reach the halfway mark, gives you an inkling of how it ends. Eastwood fans, which in this case, will mostly be the guys who belonged a few generations before us, will give this a whirl while they wait for an action-packed NFL weekend with the Steelers and 49ers playing.
'Cry Macho' is available for streaming on HBO Max.
