Gran Torino marks the first return to filmmaking for venerable actor Clint Eastwood since his Oscar winning film Million Dollar Baby and this movie is definitely not a clunker. Gran Torino is Clint Eastwood at his finest in storytelling and acting.
Eastwood comes back to the big screen as the recently widowed and retired auto worker, Walt Kawalski. Kawalski is also a man who is deeply set in his own ways and coldly distant from his two sons and their families. The kind of man who keeps his M-1 rifle cleaned and ready for action to defend what he clearly knows is his and unquestionably believes is right.
From the opening scenes of Walt and his family at the funeral for Mrs. Kawalski to Walt’s final and dramatic scenes on screen, Eastwood delivers a solid performance and bring a a believability to the character that pulls the audience into the story with ease. Pretty much everyone knows a guy like Walt Kawalski and that familiarity embodied in the equally familiar form of the laconic and soft spoken Clint Eastwood makes it all fall into place.
Kawalski, an embittered Korean war veteran with a deep distrust and dislike for Asian people finds himself dealing with unwelcome changes in his neighborhood in the form of Vietnamese families moving into his once solidly Caucasian world. As Gran Torino unfolds Walt Kowalski rescues his next door neighbor a young Hmong girl named Sue Lor (Ahney Her) and as he finds himself becoming friends with the spunky, outspoken young girl, Walt also finds himself at first very begrudgingly taking on the task of reforming her teenaged brother Thao Vang Lor (Bee Vang), who tried to steal Kowalski’s prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino.
The onscreen chemistry between Eastwood and these two young actors is part of what makes Gran Torino become such a compelling and driving force of a movie. Kawalski’s journey of self discovery and widened sense of the world around him is embodied in the friendships he makes with them and their family. Gran Torino, which was written by Nick Shenck from a screenplay by Dave Johannson, is filled with real people and with the gritty realism that comes from the world of everyday hard working middle class people, not from some smaltzy heroics or preachy zenlike characters.
Gran Torino is a solid ride for any moviegoer looking for something with ‘meat and potatoes’ to it.
Grade = A+
Reviewed by M R Reed
Some movies get the nod just because of the actor or the actress. This movie I hope gets the nod bcause it’s a great movie. Only two of my friends have caught this movie so far and both came back with mediocre reviews. They both said not bad, but only one gave me that Yeah, awesome movie feel.