MOVIE REVIEW: Gran Torino

Overall
79/100

Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) is an aging Korean war veteran and recent widower, whose neighborhood has been developing a large Korean population. Kowalski is known by his family and neighbors to be highly disagreeable and a bit of a bigot. When Thao (Bee Vang) is recruited by the local gang to steal Walt's 1972 Gran Torino, Walt is forced to confront his neighborhood's changing attitudes and his own personal beliefs.

The basic plot of a self-redeeming bigot has been seen before and isn't anything special. However, despite the lack of originality, it works well to bring a fresh take to the concept. Despite Walt's obvious bigotry in the beginning, he seems to take a liking to his new neighbors awfully quick in a change that felt like it should have taken more time. He never fully redeems himself though, and not having the character make a complete 180 gives the plot more credibility. And when it comes to time at all, the film seemed to jump days, even weeks, in a single cut. The complete lack of any transition whatsoever occasionally left me wondering 'where are we, when are we and why has Walt's shirt changed color?'

The familiarity of the plot is made up with some real good characters, or at least one. And Walt Kowalski can go down as one of my favorite bigots in film. The connection you feel with a character who hates Koreans, hates his family, hates his priest, hates...essentially everybody is fairly remarkable, seeing as how you are connecting with a character who connects with nobody. The rest of the cast plays second fiddle to Eastwood, but you probably won't mind. You're probably here for him anyway.

Clint Eastwood essentially carries this film by himself. However, even as an old man Eastwood is a big presence. Old memories of Dirty Harry come rushing back whenever Walt goes for his rifle, and you realize that age hasn't slowed him down a bit. He may look worn and aged, but Eastwood clearly shows that you have as much reason to be as afraid of old Clint as you do young Clint. It may not be the force classic Eastwood was, but he still has it and you should be afraid.

As film, Gran Torino is solid. Enjoyable to those who were fans of classic Dollars trilogy Eastwood and Dirty Harry Eastwood. Not his best film as most will agree, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. I highly recommend it.