Gran
Torino
It turns out Clint Eastwood is Batman!!!!
Eastwood stars as Walt
Kowalski – an ornery, recently widowed retired man who has
alienated his family and just about everyone else around him.
He’s upset that his neighborhood has transformed over the
years to include many recent immigrants, but one of them is about to
change his life.
Thao (Bee Vang) is a young boy being forced to become
part of a local gang, and the initiation is to steal Walt’s
vintage, perfect condition 1972 Gran Torino. He stops the kid, and,
as part of his punishment, Thao is ordered by his family to aid Walt
with whatever he needs. As they work together, Walt starts to realize
Thao and his family are good people, and this kid needs someone to help
protect him from the gang.
Can Walt help Thao escape a
life of crime and violence?
When Gran Torino was fast tracked for a quick
release during the awards
season, rumors started flying that the title was simply a cover for the
production of Dirty Harry 6. Surprisingly, Gran Torino
does feel like
it is part Dirty Harry, but it also feels like a
statement about the
need for tolerance, which keeps the audience in a weird place.
Watching Eastwood as a vigilante going after some gang bangers sounds
like a good movie to me, but, even though he could probably knock my
block off in a fight, are we ready to believe 77-year old Clint is
going to beat up some 20-year old kid and toss him off a porch? This
forces the audience to suspend a little bit too much disbelief, no
matter how much we want to relive Eastwood’s heydays as the
tough guy who could face any situation and knock it to the ground with
a right hook.
Then, are we watching Gran Torino to see Clint kick
some
booty, or to watch him grow more tolerant? This is the second weird
place the audience has to go. Eastwood is fantastic as the man who is
allowing his heart to warm up to the kids next door and the audience is
greeted by some of the best, most lovable smiles you have ever seen
from him, but it is teamed with some old fashioned violence. I guess
the point of it all is that he is willing to use his old violence to
protect his new loved ones, but the scenes clash a bit too much and I
kept looking for one item to tie it all together to explain the old
orneriness. We understand Walt is a war vet impacted by what he did,
but is that the only cause of the orneriness today?
Gran Torino is
good, but I can’t figure out all of the Oscar hype.
Gran Torino is rated R for language
throughout, and some violence.
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