Movie Review: Gran Torino (2009)

Gran Torino is the first movie I’ve been genuinely excited about since Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler. A lot of releases this year haven’t really grabbed my attention, but this did. The fact that this could be Clint Eastwood’s final on-screen performance is reason enough to warrant a viewing of Gran Torino. Throw in a trailer that depicts a serious, brooding drama about a racist widower who is unable to keep up with the world around him, and is attacked by a gang of immigrants, and you’ve got a recipe for something special.

And it is. Gran Torino is an excellent film, and it has to be said that this is all down to Mr Eastwood’s brilliant performance as Walt Kowalski. Walt is bitter, cynical, racist, and generally just a grumpy old bastard. The movie opens with his wife’s funeral, and soon after a family of Chinese immigrants move in next door. This family is just one of many immigrant families in his neighbourhood, a fact that is acknowledged by a neighbour who remarks “Why doesn’t he leave? He’s the only American left.”

Gran Torino is not, however, a drama centred around an old racist and the neighbours he perceives to be the enemy. Instead it tells the story about an old racist who comes to tolerate and ultimately appreciate and respect his foreign neighbours.

Now, I’ve mentioned that Clint Eastwood delivers a fantastic performance, but the same cannot be said for the supporting cast. There are a few moments during the movie where the two main immigrants, Thao and his sister, deliver lines very poorly that momentarily ruin the believability of this tale. I’ve read reviews that have claimed that this is due to their accents, and this may be true, but from my point of view they could’ve done better.

Performances aside, this is a fairly straight forward movie in terms of plot and direction. It is technically sound without doing anything amazing, and the story isn’t particularly special. However, it is an undeniably enjoyable couple of hours that is both incredibly funny and tragic. Some have said that Gran Torino makes light of racism, however I would argue that Eastwood overuses terms such as ‘gook’ to the point that they are meaningless; not even the targets of his racist remarks react.

This review took me ages to write, and that’s not because it’s long or well written, it’s simply because Gran Torino is a pretty basic movie that is just very, very good, and is driven by a great lead performance. See it.

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