Reviews
Gran Torino
February 20 2009
Clint Eastwood
Starring Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang
Related reviews and interviews
Clint is back. Having hinted that this may be his last acting role, he’s come out guns blazing, rolling every role he’s ever played into one lean, mean fighting machine – albeit with wrinkly arms and liver spots.
We meet newly widowed Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) standing at the front of the church on the day of his wife’s funeral. With a sniper sweep of the room, the embittered Korean War veteran takes in his pseudo-pious, parasitic family – who care less about him than their potential inheritance – and snarls.
It’s a snarl befitting of a pitbull waiting to maul a four-year-old in his gran’s council flat, and it sums up the anger, hostility and loathing Walt feels towards the state of the world in which he now lives.
Gone is the day when the white man worked a steady, honest job in an all-American company, coming home to a white neighbourhood emblazoned with stars and stripes. Now, as Walt spends his days rocking slowly on his porch with his old doggy at his side and a coldbox full of beers, he has to share his street with Hmong families – a South East Asian minority – which means nothing to Walt who can’t see the difference between them and the Koreans he killed in the war.
What is clear is that Walt is a racist. Of the highest order. Working his way through a colourful profanisaurus that brings tears to the eyes – ‘Gooks’, ‘Spics’, ‘Polacks’ and ‘Wops’ take cover – hell, he may well just take his gun, blow away you and the neighbourhood wogs and then invite Carol Thatcher over for tea to celebrate.
But after the first few tirades, the words lose all meaning as it becomes stark to an audience with bleeding ears that the mean old man is eventually going to shed his thickened skin and reveal the big softie underneath.
His chance comes when a carload of the local hard-asses arrives to bully Thao (Bee Vang), the shy, introverted boy (wuss) from next door, into joining their gang. Thao refuses and when they turn violent, Walt appears with a rifle mildly smaller than a cannon, threatening to blow them away. Adamant that they won’t be beaten, the gang initiate Thao to steal Walt’s beloved 1972 Gran Torino. Needless to say, the plan goes awry when Thao and Walt come face-to-face late at night in Walt’s garage. Cue big, solid bricks of shit.
Gran Torino is Clint Eastwood’s baby. Directed, produced and starred in. And it’s a good thing too, as the role could never have been anyone else’s. His performance is explosive, genuine, and believable, even if Walt’s overnight transformation is a teeny bit of a question mark. Although the first half feels a little devoid of direction, Eastwood takes out the jump leads and kicks it into life, giving the second half of the film a better pace, vibrancy and gentle humour that makes Gran Torino worth at least one ride.
Anticipation:
Enjoyment:
In Retrospect:
Wow! What a well-written review! I had no intention of going to see this film, but now….well, I probably still won't bother. But I certainly enjoyed Ms Rajesh's topical humour and casual – but necessary – racism. Bigtime.
Written by FHMLover on February 20th, 2009 at 17:33
So-so review of a great movie. Gran Torino is neither forgettable nor 'devoid of direction.' It's a resonant, gripping tale for adults & one of Eastwood's greatest films. Much better than the overpraised Unforgiven & GT's ending came as a complete surprise. Wonderful stuff.
Written by Fred on February 20th, 2009 at 17:59
A really good and entertaining review and pretty spot on from what i remember-
In my simpletons word…. bit slow at the start, lots of racism and growling, good finish and overall must have been pretty good as i did not fall asleep!
Written by Guy on February 21st, 2009 at 16:44
Why do people review reveiws now?
Written by JoB on February 22nd, 2009 at 13:36
Over-zealous review straight outta’ the sixth form newsletter – complete with woefully immature analogies.
Written by Chris on February 24th, 2009 at 12:39
"complete with woefully immature analogies"
Where?
Written by Bobby_Floyd on February 24th, 2009 at 13:03
My only grievace with this review is the use of the indefinite article before profanisaurus.
"Working his way through a colourful profanisaurus that brings tears to the eyes " Doesn't quite sound right, there is only one profanisaurus isn't there? I suppose there has been different editions…
Finally are you sure you have your facts right? I was told by a fairly reliable source that ‘Gooks’, ‘Spics’, ‘Polacks’ and ‘Wops’ are all types of sea fish found round the British Isles.
Written by David_Silk on February 25th, 2009 at 09:12
That really aggrieve you? Man, are we all subs now?
Try reading the sentence through to its end with 'a' changed to 'the', and it will quickly become apparent why Monisha has opted for an indefinite article. It is not the general treasurehouse of English-language profanity, but rather Walt Kowalski's personal one, exemplified and elaborated through his own linguistic use, 'that brings tears to the eyes' – indeed, if it were the former, the relative clause would merely be stating a truism.
In any case, nice to see a/the profanisaurus exhumed, reassembled and revived after being thought extinct for so many millions of years (along, come to think of it, with Clint's Dirty Harry routine)…
Written by Anton Bitel on February 25th, 2009 at 11:14
This review could have been good, if the reviewer had bothered to even remember the narrative- Walt doesn't point the gun at the gangsters on the lawn until AFTER the Gran Torino incident, and the 'overnight' transformation is quite an exaggeration-from what I recall, the transformation took place over a lengthy period of time, while Eastwood makes use of the staple montage to even remove whole weeks, and show how easy it is to misjudge and let prejudice blind, though walt maintains his racist attitude even after he has 'let down his guard', so to speak. The review sums up my experience, in that most of the audience were uproariously laughing at the simply astounding amount of racist comments, and then, during a post film bladder emptying frenzy (It would seem that nobody wanted to leave during the film) I witnessed the parlay of young gentlemen quoting words like, fish-heads and zipper face. What I am saying is that the racist element of the script is being warped. Though by no means unamusing, I found that perhaps there was a speckle of archaic racist hegemony present. Or maybe it was all just uproarious irony. Still, this review says less than the film deserves by attempting to use the racism as some kind of spectacle to go and be thrilled by. It's a shame, as the film really deserves a lot more praise for it's underlying message than it's "colourful" language.
Written by henry specklesgruder on February 26th, 2009 at 23:45
Notice that when Walt dies, he falls in a cruciform posture? Hmmm. Guy dies in order to set the innocent free from insensate evil. Does this sound familiar? Great flick, in that it twigs our expectations, for we expect this cross between ARchie Bunker and Dirty harry to shoot down beaucoup miscreants.
Written by Charles on July 24th, 2009 at 19:24