Starring: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her
Released: 27th Februaury 2009
Make no mistake about it, Clint Eastwood is not fading into obscurity like many of Hollywoods fallen icons. A badass from back in the day who has gained more and more critical acclaim the further his career has progressed, Eastwood is loved for iconic acting in the likes of Dirty Harry and magnificent directing in the award lavished Million Dollar Baby. With that in mind Gran Torino has a lot to live up to and luckily it doesnt disappoint.
Clint plays Walt Kowalski, a war veteran who despises his family almost as much as the Hmong family who live next door. His wife having just passed away, Walt finds himself alone and disgruntled but after an incounter with a neighbourhood gang, Walt finds himself befriended by the family next door, whether he likes it or not. The tone of Gran Torino is what makes it most gripping. The premisis of the film is that Clint Eastwoods car proves the magnet that brings all the characters together, but this is the biggest maguffin of the film with the relationship between Walt and the young boy Thao the driving force of the film as Thao learns about being a man in modern society and Walt learns to accept and appreciate the place of those different from himself.
Clint's on top form as Kowalski, his grouchey racist slurs and tough skin genuinely make him believable as a war veteran set in his ways, unable to accept multi cultural society due to what haunts him from his past. This is Eastwoods film , he steals the show and when the film comes to its climax it would be very hard to say you have not identified with his character somebody you know like Kowalski. This is not to say the film is flawless, the young boy Thao is played by Bee Vang with as much acting depth as the planks of wood Walt has him lugging around the front yard. He seems unable to convey emotion that is believable to the audience making it hard to connect with him which is a shame as the relationship between he and Walt is one of the driving components of the narrative. Further more, after a long build up the ending feels a little disappointing and the final shot of the movie is extremely cliched, despite Eastwoods raspy voice signing to the films closing credits.
These are minor quibles in the end though that for most will not take away the enjoyment of the film. Some audience members seemed to feel awkward by the racist comments made by Walt in parts of the film where the comments are designed to envoke a comedic response, no doubt asking themselves should i be laughing at this ? This is deliberate by Eastwood as a comment on political correctness of modern society and how his generation still view the world, made evident by his insistence on calling the young boy "Toad" until he learns to appreciate him and begin calling him by his real name. Eastwood told GMTV "whatever ethnic, religious groups they were. Everybody would joke about it and everybody got along just fine," he said. "But then we've come to this now where everybody has to be walking on eggshells - kind of very... sensitive". The film has touching moments that deal with conflicting views of life and death, as well as very funny moments and intensely disturbing and emotional scenes. Gran Torino takes the audience member through every emotion you could possibly feel watching a film, and its this that makes Eastwood's Walt so tragically loveable.
Whilst it has its low points, Gran Torino is a flawed Masterpiece. It makes a strong comment on political correctness and the need for acceptance of others in modern society, but also the equally important yet less advertised argument of respect and decline of values that seem to become more and more diluted as generations continue. Eastwood gives a wonderful performance to rival any of his other iconic characters throughout his illustrious career and on the whole the rest of the supporting cast are just aswell played, with the exception of Thao. Eastwood proves he can still kick ass, and even more impressivly, he proves once again that he is capable of stunning the audience from both sides of the camera.
Action Flicks Rating : 9/10
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