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.