Tuesday
Dec232008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 12:40AM Movie Review - 'Gran Torino'
| Gran Torino
Starring Clint Eastwood, Bee
Vang, and Ahney Her  |
For
my money,
Clint Eastwood's best performance is in Million Dollar Baby. There
are more powerful, more commanding roles in his history, but none of them had
the complexity of his most recent on screen work, delivered when Eastwood was 74
years old. Eastwood's funniest performance, at least since the oft-forgotten war movie Kelly's Heroes back in the early 1970s, comes at age 78 in Gran Torino, a bit strange since this film is not particularly a comedy, at least not from start to finish. Torino as a whole doesn't live up to the curmudgeonly Walt Kowalski, a retired Korean War veteran trying to stay grounded in a world flying by him, primarily because Eastwood's performance is the only one that even rises above average.
Kowalski has just buried his wife, and for the first time in who knows how long, he has idle time and idle hands. From the time he returned from Korea, Walt had worked in the auto plant where he bought his prized possession, a 1972 Gran Torino, right off the line. But now he's retired and alone.
His children worry about him more than he worries about himself or even worries about them. Walt doesn't want to be bothered, not by his kids, not by the 21st century, and certainly not by his Asian neighbors. They're Hmong, refugees from southeast Asia who migrated to points throughout America beginning in the mid-1970s. Walt doesn't see much difference between them and the Koreans he fought five decades earlier. He slings ethnic slurs their direction and wonders to himself what the hell happened to his neighborhood, which has become a heavy population center for Hmong.
One night, Walt hears a commotion in his garage, starts out of bed with his gun and finds a scared kid checking out the Gran Torino. The teenager escapes, but Walt runs into him again, under similarly suspicious circumstances. The Gran Torino was part of a gang initiation for Thao (Bee Vang), even though he wants nothing to do with the gang. And when the rest of the gang shows up to intimidate their new recruit, crusty old Walt comes down from his porch and demands, in words that amount to, "You kids get off my lawn!"
Even when Walt becomes accepting of Thao, Sue, and their family - a major feat for the aging soldier - he never relinquishes his old ways, never begging anyone's pardon for derogatory terms a racist leanings; Walt will be accepted as he is. Soon, however, Kowalski begins to give Thao a few life lessons, putting him to work to pay off his debt of attempted grand theft auto. I think with stronger actors in the supporting roles, all of these things, from the racial tension to the mentor-student angle, would have all been more enlightening. But Eastwood has to do most of the lifting...and even at a spry 78, it's a little too much for him to handle on his own.
Gran Torino is far from a bad film. Again, Eastwood is a riot on screen, and shows his usual even hand behind the camera. But it should be a lot better. The story's great, the payoff is exactly what I had hoped for, and there's a real humanity to it, and not an easy one at that. But there are simply too many substandard performances that ultimately chip away at what could be a fantastic film.
Reader Comments (7)
I thought Ahney Her did a good job with her character. Sue had attitude and was pretty funny. Thao was not believable at all and his reactions to the climactic event were a little odd. I liked the movie overall. I thought it was a little strange that Walt felt remorse for not having a good relationship with his kids and yet he didn't really give them anything at the end of the movie. I really wasn't satisfied with the ending.
I agree with you on a lot of things but, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I'm surprised you're giving Gran Torino a ho-hum review and all but raved over Seven Pounds (or as I've come to call it, Bathing with Jellyfish). But this is why they're called "opinion pieces" and, of course, everybody's got one.
Scott, you still haven't weighed in, have you? Good or Bad?
i liked this... and the audience i was with roared with each slur, almost as if they were relieved they could without being shushed.
one glitch... walter's paperwork for the hospital says he is 68. that age would never work if he fought in korea.
(once a script supervisor, always a script supervisor)
and 'seven pounds'? 7642 yawns.
IMHO, "Gran Torino" is a marvelous movie in every aspect of movie making. Eastwood's performance is oscar worthy and I'm sorely disappointed he did not receive a nomination.
One second you laugh deep belly laughs and a mere second later, you feel that tug at your heartstrings. Simply awesome.
No one seems to get what was being said in the film. Kowalski's relationship (or non-relationship) with his family is the big issue that gets little review space, and no understanding has been shown in anything I've read yet.
Walt Kowalski's family is spoiled straight to hell. One guy on here suggested that he should have given his family something at the end to make up for his bastard attitude, but really, his family is a group of self-absorbed fools with no sense of decency. Should he have given that spoiled chick the car? It would've ruined the movie if he had.
Walt spoiled his family, and in the end, they wanted him dumped off into a nursing home so they could sell his house. The old man was bright enough to recognize the potential and decency of his slant neighbors rather than fork over any more of himself to the brood that he took care of yet failed to raise with strong values. That's the best part of Walt's character to me, and it's the best message for the movie that no one seems to have gotten: The next great generation, regardless of color, is the generation with a work ethic and values that will drive this country. Forget the fat, stupid children. They didn't respect Walt, and he owed them nothing.
"I agree with you.
Usually，less than 30minutes, 5-10 minutes is Enough。
"
-Breitling Black Bird best men watches