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Director:Clint Eastwood
Rating:Rated R for language throughout, and some violence.
Starring:Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Hur
Reviewguy's Rating (Out of 10):8
Maybe it is best to say from the offset that I am a big Clint Eastwood fan. If you know anything about me (check out my three books on westerns), you will know that I live and die by the western. Clint had as big an impact on that as anyone else in his profession. Gran Torino could easily be set in that day and time with the rough talking lawman ready to dispense justice to those who would willingly do wrong. But alas, we are in the year of Obama 2009 and things have changed a bit. Or have they?
Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) is a widower, borderline-hateful old man who cannot get along with either his kids or his neighbors. One of the scenes that set up the rest of the film is of him scowling at everyone who is attending his church and his supposed rundown of what they are doing and whom they are with. Eastwood is a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1973 Gran Torino he keeps in cherry condition. When his neighbor Tao, a young Hmong teenager, tries to steal his Gran Torino, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of Tao's family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them form the gangs that foul their neighborhood.
I was rather taken aback by the language in the film, but I must say that it is necessary to show the type of man Walt has become. If you come to this film with sensitive ears, it will run you out of the movie theatre quite quickly. The best parts of the movie are Walt’s interaction with his Hmong neighbors and especially the youths of the family once, he lets his guard down a bit. This is among the best films of 2008 so give it a chance and check it out.
