The name Clint Eastwood will forever be associated with film greatness. His unsurmountable and unstoppable film success and career will be written about in history books. At the age of 80, Eastwood appears as if he will be making movies till the day he dies. “Gran Torino”, one of Eastwood’s recent films, adds to his long legacy that will not soon be forgotten.
“Gran Torino” is old racist war veteran Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) who is the classic old coot. An asian family moves in next door which annoys Walt to no end. He forms a friendship with the kids Thao (Bee Vang) and Sue (Ahney Her). A gang has challenged Thao to steal Walt’s Gran Torino which he is caught doing and therefore fails. As reciprocation, Thao begins helping Walt do oddjobs around his house. The gang finds out that Thao has failed his initiation and muggs him on the way home from school. Walt retaliates and beats up the gang members and tell them to leave the family alone. The gang then does a driveby shooting at Thao’s house, leaving Thao shot in the neck and his sister Sue raped and beaten. As a last resort, Walt confronts the gang and is shot dead and the gang is thrown in jail.
It’s hard to watch this movie without thinking that Eastwood isn’t really acting. He seems like the kinda guy that would be reacting in the same way as Walt so you occasionally forget you are watching him play a character. It’s a thrill to see Eastwood playing an old badass because, in essence, he’s an old badass. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull really showed Harrison Ford’s age whereas Gran Torino shows that Eastwood’s still got some Dirty Harry in him. Ahney Her does a great job at being a charismatic girl who really cares for Walt but at the same time being naive enough to get caught up in the gang violence. Bee Vang’s performance starts off a bit cliche but really comes into his own when he begins to come into his own as a man and yell back at Walt when he’s being a scrooge. Scenes have a slow build but are never boring by any means. Walt loves to stereotype different races and people without realizing he’s the “get off my lawn” grumpy old man stereotype.
Gran Torino is a coming of age story in many respects. A boy learns to stand up for himself and become a man. An old curmudgeon realizes there are good people left in the world and becomes a man in some regards. Overall, it’s a story of acceptance and growth that breaksthrough the mundane blockbusters that hollywood seems to put out and is able to keep you well invested in the characters without being bored.
What did you think of the editing?
Comment by Nicole Triche — December 6, 2010 @ 8:29 pm |