Movie Review: Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood has stated that Gran Torino (2008, R) is his final film as an actor, according to wikipedia.org. If it is, this drama seems like a suitable vehicle for Eastwood to use in his farewell acting role. He is an action hero, perhaps verbally more than physically, but still a force to be reckoned with at the age of 78. Not only did he star in the film, but he also directed and produced it.

The plot:

Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) is a Korean War veteran and a retired Ford factory worker living in Michigan. The community where he lives is no longer populated by working class white families but instead is now dominated by poor Asian immigrants.

Kowalski's wife passes away, and he is not on good terms with his sons and their families, so that compounds his difficulty in having to live next door to a Hmong family. He doesn't understand their customs, and wants only to be left alone.

There is the element of gang violence throughout the film. Kowalski's neighboring family has a son, Thao, and daughter, Sue, who try hard to stay out of this gang culture but are quite powerless against the gang that they are up against. Thao is pressured to try to steal Kowalski's 1972 Gran Torino as a gang initiation, but Kowalski sees the flashlight in the garage and Thao flees the scene.

Later, however, Walt sees the gang influence for what it is, and takes actions to protect Thao and Sue. In his crusty, unbending way, Walt begins to help Thao and the situation in the neighborhood seems to be headed in the right direction.

But the situation is not going to be better for long. After several crises occur including a drive-by shooting and a rape, the remainder of the movie is consumed with on-going conflicts and plans for vengeance. There is also the implication that Walt is dealing with a serious health problem of his own.

And that is as far as I will go in revealing the story! You will want to discover for yourself how Kowalski solves the problem for Thao and Sue in such a way that they will never be bothered by the gang again. If the last scenes are Eastwood's final acting scenes, he certainly did them in his classic acting style.

In conclusion:

I found this film to be absorbing, and one that made me think about the differences between cultures and the power struggle between gangs and unwilling victims. The story line will likely stay with me for awhile as there were a lot of factional elements in most of the scenes of the movie that will play out in my mind as I sort things out.

However, I recently watched the classic movie The Man Who Would Be King, and on the heels of that movie I found it hard to be overly enamored with the settings, plot and acting in Gran Torino. Trying to be as objective as I can be without making comparisons to the previously-viewed film, I thought Gran Torino was above average, but not very much above; therefore I am giving it a 3 ½ out of 5.

If you like Clint Eastwood, then you will want to see Gran Torino, especially if Eastwood never accepts an acting role in a film again. Having been a fan of his for the many years that he has been an actor, the finality of Clint Eastwood never appearing in a new role on the big screen again seems almost unthinkable to me!

For more articles by this writer, click here.

Other movie reviews by R.C. Johnson: The Man Who Would Be King; The Princess Bride; The Mission; Top Gun; Crocodile Dundee; Maid to Order; Beaches; The Indian in the Cupboard; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Witness; The Gods Must Be Crazy;Flywheel, Facing the Giants and Fireproof.

Sources:
wikipedia.org, Gran Torino, the film
wikipedia.org, Clint Eastwood