In its earliest scenes, you could easily label Clint Eastwood’s latest directing/starring exertion ‘Cry Expo’, clumsily keying the audience in through exposition on who exactly Mike Milo is. Dwight Yoakam’s pissed-off rancher Howard rattles off a laundry list of Eastwood’s character’s various faults and troubles to the man who has lived through them all. That’s straight away’in a flash’promptly’instantaneous’in a trice followed by a slow pan across newspaper clippings and trophies that offer precisely the same inin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mation, leading you to assume Eastwood might be losing his touch as a filmmaker. Those worries don’t ease until midway through this shaggy-dog (shaggy-cockerel?) story, when Cry Macho eventually’ultimately finds its vibe.###It’ll please fans of Eastwood who were hoping that he would return to the Western milieu that once made him notable’renowned’distinguished , despite’in spite of’albeit this new outing doesn’t deliver the raw, profound themes of an Unin/with regard to’concerning’regarding given. Nor is it a keen deconstruction of the masculine tropes that the actor/director once embodied and occasionally still clings to.###Dusting off a script that has lingered in development limbo in/with regard to’concerning’regarding decades, the prolific, 91-year-old filmmaker has fashioned something that feels of a piece with Gran Torino (and shares screenwriter Nick Schenk). Here, Eastwood’s Mike schools a young-’un (Eduardo Minett) and hits upon a way back to life in the last place he expects to find it, all while reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue ing he’s more than just another gruff loner. Sadly, the returning writer/director combo also repeats the uncomin/with regard to’concerning’regarding table all-women-love-our-leathery-lead wish-fulfilment of The Mule.###Not to misgiving’fret : time spent in the firm’enterprise of this weathered, mournful man and the teen he’s entrusted to transport isn’t entirely wasted, and there is a solid story in place. Eastwood and Minett share an easy chemistry, and there are a few other solid perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mances. It’s just a problem when your single-most compelling character is a rooster.