Gran Torino

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1205489/

Well I had a lot of fun watching this. This film is also apparently the last film Clint Eastwood will ever star in, and after all, this has been confirmed by Wikipedia, so who's going to argue? I can't declare myself an Eastwood aficionado, but after seeing this I will definitely be looking up the back catalogue, particularly the character of Dirty Harry.

Set in Motown, Eastwood plays the character of Walt Kowalski, an embittered Korea veteran. He's recently lost his wife, hates his kids and thinks the neighborhood is going to hell on a handcart with the ever increasing Hmong population moving in and taking over the local area. We see his disenfranchisement from his "spoilt", grandchildren and his increasing feeling of alienation from everyone around him. His local Priest, at his wives behest continually, and rather vainly tries to get Walt to confess his sins, which Walt rebukes in typical fashion saying "I think you're an overeducated 27-year-old virgin who likes to hold the hands of superstitious old ladies and promise them everlasting life".

Meanwhile Thao, the boy next door is the cousin of a gang member and is pressured into stealing Walt's prized Gran Torino as part of an initiation process. Walt catches him and gives him a talking to he never forgets, however when the same gang comes calling for Tao, Walt saves him by standing up to the gang becoming an overnight hero. When Tao is forced to make reparations to Walt by his family however, Walt sees something in him and decides to help him out and make something of himself.

"Get off my lawn. Grrrrerer".

At the time of its release this film was a great success with it being Eastwood's highest grossing film, taking $270 million and winning several awards, it was however, completely overlooked by the Academy. It is astonishing that Eastwood continues to produce work of such a high calibre after over 50 years of acting and 40 years of directing. As a screen presence he is a lot of fun, playing a very bitter and racist man, his growl is truly something to behold, for a bit of fun check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u86D0jWw5No

Apparently this is also what Dirty Harry retired would be like, not having seen Dirty Harry I can't really comment on this, but I will definitely be seeking it out after this. If Walt is this much fun, just sitting on his porch, pounding beers, I can't wait to see him go to town in one of his earlier incarnations. He has this constant air of malevolence and great energy to him, which you can feel bursting off the screen. The times he is surrounded by his own family you can feel his crackling umbrage directed at the good for nothing meddling idiots and his avaricious granddaughter.

I also found the following list of racial slurs he uses during the film and it is quite something to behold

1. Swamp Rats
2. Zipperhead
3. Chinks
4. Gooks
5. Gooks
6. Dago
7. Spooks
8. Fish Heads
9. Gooks
10. Gook
11. Egg Roll
12. Slopes
13. Swamp Rats
14. Dragon Lady
15. Zip
16. Gook
17. Zipperhead
18. Mick
19. Zips
20. Chink
21. Gook
22. Ginny
23. Swamp Rat
24. Gook
The final two are read from his will.
25. Beaner
26. Zipperhead

Obviously not a film for the overly PC among us, I found this aspect of the film hilarious however, and Walt's unapologetic acerbic manner is part of his make up

Ahney Her who plays Sue also gives a good performance, being quite peppy in a not too annoying way, however Bee Vang who plays Thao and provides the main support in this film gives a dire, unemotional and strained performance in this, giving little vitality to the role and failing to bring the character to life which is a shame and a major issue for me. And about halfway through the film when Thao becomes a major element in the film coincidentally, it struggles. Walt tries to better Thao by helping him build a life for himself and this is the weakest element of the film, as Andrew Collins put it, it almost turns into a disney film at this point. This is a shame as the scenes of witty repartee between Walt and Sue, or seeing Walt awkwardly navigate himself among the Hmong peopleare a lot of fun, and suddenly Sue is sidelined and we are forced to spend about half an hour watching the dour faced Thao follow Walt like a tail saying yessir, nosir, threebagsfullsir.

We do get to see Walt thoroughly abuse Thao however, and that is always worth a laugh because you feel he deserve it for being such a pusillanimous sap.

The soundtrack is also strong, with the song "Gran Torino", a collaboration with Jamie Cullum being a particular highlight, even getting a few lines sung by Clint himself in that omnipresent, menacing growl. Detroit itself is a city that intrigues me with its hundred dollar houses and its modern ghost town quality, I see it as a fertile setting ground for cinema in the near future, with the streets now resembling something out of I am Legend.

Detroit Turning Fallow

At its heart it is good as well, despite the rather racist surface some people may attribute to it, in the end its central message is not to judge people on the colour of their skin, seen not only with Walt coming to play a father figure to his neighbors, but also the Hmong community themselves accepting Walt, the hostile white man, as their guardian. Walt is not the only man with race issues, the grandmother next door also holds similar views about him, yet the Hmong community eventually adopt Walt as on of their own, and in one of the films lighter moments bringing him endless supplies of food and flowers for his various acts of heroism. Maybe the message of loving your neighbour is a bit mawkish and hokey, but you can't deny it is a good one even so, and the flashbang finale feels right.

Overall it is a good film and one that I recommend you seeking out, definitely worth a torrent, or if you're not broke like me, worth purchasing on DVD

I give it 7 out of 10