49 Movie Review: "Gran Torino"
3:39 p.m. Friday, January 9, 2009
Academy Award winner and movie legend Clint Eastwood returns to acting in his latest directorial effort called Gran Torino, a film that he also wrote.
We first meet Walt Kowalski a reclusive, retired autoworker and veteran of the Korean War, at the funeral of his wife. Walt is full of bitterness and anger, and his outlook on life is jaded at best. He wants to be left alone and he makes that clear to everyone who comes in contact with him. He's estranged from his kids, hates his Chinese neighbors and pretty much everything else in his bitter, rant filled, bigoted world.
Things, however, begin to change in his life when teenager next door neighbor unsuccessfully attempts to steal Walt's restored 1972 Gran Torino out of his garage.
Out of shame, the family offers the services of the young man in order to repay Walt for the action and to erase the shame he's brought to his own family. Walt wants no part of the offer, but reluctantly agrees just to shut up his neighbors.
Walt's military past comes back to him when he chases off a local punk gang when they harass his neighbors. Following the incident, Walt becomes a reluctant hero to his Chinese neighbors.
Soon Walt begins to see his neighbors for the things they have in common. They become more than neighbors, they become friends, and the hard, bitter existence towards them and others that's consumed Walt for years begins to melt away.
Gran Torino
Gran Torino is what Clint Eastwood has called his final on-screen role and I certainly hope that's not the case. But if it is, he's going out on a high note. The character is a cross between Dirty Harry, Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway from Heartbreak Ridge, with a little Archie Bunker mixed in.
Clint Eastwood has become one of our most talented and important directors. His careful crafting of characters and amazing storytelling skills shine through his projects.
Storywise, this is a predictable movie, but with Eastwood in the director's chair, it becomes something more. It's a story of racial ignorance, anger, loss, cultural understanding, friendship and, in the end, redemption.
It's not the masterpiece that his other directorial projects are, but it's still a satisfying entertaining film that I liked very much.
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