REVIEW: Gran Torino

STARRING: Clint Eastwood, Ahney Her View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 12/19/2008 DATE SCREENED: 12/16/2008 The Verdict GOOD - See it in the theater

Clint Eastwood directs himself for the first time since 2004 in Gran Torino. The film is generating Oscar buzz for both Eastwood as Best Actor and the film as Best Picture. Eastwood has already won the Best Actor prize from the National Board of Review. Although I walked into the screening with no idea what Gran Torino was actually about, the Oscar buzz I had heard had me walking into the theater with high expectations. Eastwood’s two previous Best Picture awards have already set the bar high for any of his films.

Gran Torino is centered on Eastwood’s character, Walt Kowalski. We are introduced to Walt at his wife’s funeral. After the funeral, when everyone is gathered at Walt’s house, Walt’s character is quickly established. He’s the kind of angry old man that does not fit in with today’s politically correct society. He’s a racist Korean War veteran and retired auto worker, who doesn’t have much a relationship with his own sons and grandchildren. He always says what is on his mind, regardless of how it may hurt someone’s feelings.

A family of Hmong (Southeast Asian) immigrants moves in next door to Walt. It seems Walt’s neighborhood has gone through a drastic change the last few years. Almost all of the white people have moved out, while lower income Asians, blacks and Hispanics have moved in. The young people have formed street gangs based on race, but that doesn’t scare Walt. He calls everyone a racial slur without fear. The Hmong gang forces one of Walt’s neighbors, a teenaged boy named Thao, to try and steal Walt’s prized 1972 Ford Gran Torino. Walt catches him, almost shooting him in the process. When the gang returns to try and force Thao into another initiation, his sister Sue is there to help resist. Things start to get violent and Walt comes to the rescue with his rifle. Unfortunately, pulling out that rifle only launches a cycle of escalating violence. Walt takes a liking to both Sue and Thao, and is soon learning about Hmong culture. He seems to harbor guilt about the Asians he killed in Korea. In his mind he now has the opportunity to make up for it by protecting his neighbors from this street gang.

The great thing about Gran Torino is that it has so many layers to keep you interested throughout. You have action, you have comedy, and there is a moral to the story. Different themes are touched upon. You have the theme of solving problems with violence only creating more violence. There is the theme of a person realizing that other races aren’t that different. There is the theme of a soldier atoning for his war crimes. The meaning of life and death is even explored through Walt’s banter with a priest who checks up on Walt regularly. None of these themes are new, but the film puts it all together in a way that makes for a unique film. A lot of Walt’s racist commentary is played for laughs, and one particular scene in which Walt tries to toughen up Thao at a barber shop was probably the funniest scene I’ve seen in a movie all year. The film isn’t perfect, as some of the events are very contrived. And Walt’s constant stream of racial epitaphs does begin to wear a bit thin. Overall, Gran Torino is a very good movie that’s definitely worth a trip to the theater.