Gran Torino

Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood) – The first hour of this movie is more than a set-up about Walt Kowalski, the recently-widowed retired Ford factory line worker and Korean War veteran whose solitary life has helped create an angry, bitter man.  It’s a boring diatribe about a bigot who (literally) growls at his hip and obnoxious grandkids, the sons he doesn’t know well, and at anyone whose behavior he disapproves of.  I was very surprised how much time director and star Clint Eastwood spent introducing this character and setting the stage for Act II.  His neighborhood has been gradually overtaken by Asians who resettled in America, specifically the Hmong, “hill people” from Laos, China, and Thailand who fought alongside Americans in Vietnam.  Act II is his introduction to their culture as well as his protection of the people next door, who are being terrorized by a Hmong gang.  In particular, it’s about his relationship with the two teenagers next door, especially the boy who tries to steal his precious 1972 Gran Torino as part of a gang initiation.  Fortunately, Act II and the subsequent third act are outstanding, redeeming the film and making it more than Dirty Harry meets The Joy Luck Club.  Eastwood is one-dimensional for the first half, and then becomes the great actor who displays rage better than anyone for the last part of the movie.  But the film does deliver a strong message and provides exceptional drama and emotion in the last half.  Unlike most of his recent films, including The Changeling, Clint did not write the music here; his 30-year-old son, Kyle does (although Clint is a co-author of the title song, which he actually sings over the closing credits).  I guess that, overall, I was disappointed in the film, given its hype and the possibility that this is Eastwood’s swan song as an actor.  But it is worth seeing, if for nothing else than the last 45 minutes.