Gran Torino 2008
I had heard good things about this movie as well as some pretty neutral reviews when this came out. So I went in hopeful, but with realistic expectations. I can see why Clint Eastwood chose this movie to star in and direct: His character has a lot of depth and shows substantial development. But this isn’t really true for the rest of the cast. While his character (a retired Detroit autoworker who hates everybody) undergoes a big transformation and Clint generally has the acting ability to pull it off, everyone around him is more of a cardboard cutout with acting skills to match. The acting really suffers, probably from a combination of the unknown cast, lines anyone would have a hard time delivering realistically, and inattentive directing. The culture clash stuff (racist white guy vs. Hmong immigrants) is laid on pretty thick, giving the movie more of the flavor of an afterschool movie, though I also think it is pretty realistic.
The story is decent enough, but it has been done before. There are a couple of really good scenes as Clint is showing one character how to be a man. Like Boyz in the Hood before it, this shows certain elements of life around gangs and is to be commended for that. I won’t give away the ending, but I thought it was was terrible in any number of ways. Of course an unsatisfying ending like that is something critics gush over.
This movie is worth watching and a couple of scenes about being a man are first rate, but it is also easily skipped. I will give it a B.
Written: 28 Jun 2009