Gran Torino showed up on IMDB as #77 in their top 250. This accolade made me really understand that lots and lots of people really enjoy Clint Eastwood’s style of film-making. Me? Maybe not so much. This is not to say that I haven’t enjoyed some of his films. Million Dollar Baby, although maybe over-rated, was a compelling and well put together story. Same with A Perfect World, one of my all time favorites. And who can deny the impact of Unforgiven on the Western genre. But then we get to Clint’s latest effort, and his way of making his points-hitting the audience over the head with a sledge-hammer-became too boring, and even insulting to me as a viewer. This lack of subtlety is a characteristic of his writing, direction, and acting, and permeates his movies to varying degrees. And in Gran Torino, we see a lot of it.

The story itself is pretty interesting: Clint plays Walt Kowalski, a veteran of the Korean War and retired auto worker, whose wife has just passed away. He’s a curmudgeon of a guy (here again, such an exaggeration of his crankiness), who doesn’t have any close relationships and generally hangs out and smokes, drinks, and stews all day. A Hmong family (groups of Laotian and Cambodian descent) has moved in next door to him and now we get the immigration issue on screen. One of the two teenagers in the family is Thao, a quiet and passive individual, who is coerced into stealing Walt’s 1972 Gran Torino as an initiation rite for his cousin’s gang. Walt interrupts the theft, and later saves the kid from the gang’s revenge. The family is greatly indebted to him, and tries to make amends. Thao becomes Walt’s helper, although it’s probably Walt who helps Thao more. We see the progression of Walt’s involvement with, and acceptance of, the family and his growing concern for their well-being. He acts on this concern in the movie’s crowning glory.

All this is fed to us with no ambiguity, depth or complexity. Walt is our great hero, but he’s not the hero I want. He’s racist and nasty, and the film lacks the development to make his transformation into a “good guy” that believable for me. That being said, it’s obviously worth a view for Eastwood fans, and those who are looking for a good story. I assure you that you won’t be called upon to make any interpretations of symbolism or deal with any ambiguities. What you see is what you get, and loads of viewers have enjoyed watching this film. – [DVD]

Crime/Drama

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 6/09/09

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