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Gran Torino (2008)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Time Out rating

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68 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

When Eastwood’s follow-up to ‘Changeling’ was announced in May, he quickly refuted rumours that he was making, belatedly, another ‘Dirty Harry’ picture. If its trailer promises a vigilante movie, the comedy-drama on release is actually a rather wise, insightful exploration of family and friendship, violence and vengeance.

Admittedly, retired Detroit autoworker and Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski (Eastwood, in what, sadly, may be his last lead turn) initially comes across like a curmudgeonly elderly relative of Harry Callahan: unable to conceal his disdain for his folks, his late wife’s priest, and those now inhabiting his slightly run-down suburb, many of whom are Hmongs who left south-east Asia for the US due to the Vietnam War. One such is shy teen Thao (Bee Yang), whose reluctant initiation into a local gang involves stealing Walt’s beloved 1972 Gran Torino…

Cue, much conflict: Nick Schenk’s screenplay centres on the encounter between Walt – a politically incorrect old bigot scarred by war – and today’s multicultural society. But as the film proceeds, with Thao’s sassy sister Sue (Abney Her) arousing both Walt’s protective instincts and his hitherto neglected capacity for self-analysis, it becomes more complex and engaging and it’s often very funny (as in a barber-shop scene where traditional American ‘masculinity’is hilariously exposed as an absurd construct). Finally, there’s a very moving development that takes Walt way beyond Callahan’s ethos. Eastwood’s subtle performance is as charismatic and effective as ever, while the movie covers his abiding preoccupations – race, age, individualism in a conformist world – with wit and intelligence. And in insisting that friendship’s more important than blood ties (or religious faith), Clint quietly goes against the grain. Predictably superior fare.

Author: Geoff Andrew 2009-02-17 10:56:04

Time Out London Issue 2009, 19-25 Feb, 2009

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User reviews of this film

DV said...

Posted on Mar 07 2009 10:07 Brilliant. Good vs evil is the main theme of this very funny film. Always a winner for me. It's like a feature length episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm mixed with an urban drama. (I hope gang members go to see this film and realise how dumb their behaviour is.) Clint is an older, grouchier Larry David type. Not a film for PC-thinking sheep, but if you liked In Bruges for example, check it out.

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H said...

Posted on Mar 06 2009 23:37 I'm amazed at the glowing reviews for this film. It's a laughable mishmash of all the most stereotypical moments of bad Hollywood screenwriting, it's badly acted throughout, it's quite boring and the only times the audience laughed was when racist terms were being churned out to remind us what a curmudgeonly card Walt is.
Some of the clunkiest writing I've seen in a film for a long time, peppered with spoof-like cliches and ultimately just a chance to see how an old Clint Eastwood/Harry Callahan would act in various suburban scenarios.
See: The rookie priest! The old vet! The local gangsters! The shy kid needing a coach! The feisty sister! The disapproving grandmother! The poignant dog! The wisps of military music surging up whenever action is called for! I could go on...
My friend wondered whether Clint had been watching too much One Foot In The Grave and I think she might be right.
Two hours of life down the drain.

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Russell said...

Posted on Mar 06 2009 16:35 Eastwood growls his way through the early part of the film, then he uncomfortably thaws resolving himself into a hero, but the bare plot is probably the most formulaic thing about it, it's a beautifully acted nicely paced film that's all about redemption. it's a great performance by Eastwood and it's one of the films of the year.

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barry said...

Posted on Mar 06 2009 14:59 totally disappointed with this film. nearly fell asleep half way through. I kept thinking it will get interesting soon, but it never did. I shall be telling everyone i know not to bother. waste of time and money.

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Red said...

Posted on Mar 06 2009 13:48 One of Eastwood's greatest movies, far surpassing the likes of 'Unforgiven.'
Gran Torino is hugely entertaining. The crowd I saw it with were laughing so hard I might have to see the movie again just to hear all the dialogue I missed the first time.
Eastwood is just sensational here with a role that gives him the chance to play every emotional shade imaginable. Just look at the sad expression on his face during the birthday scene when it dawns on him that his horrible children are trying to get him into a retirement home so they can seize his house. Or his first encounter with the gang on his front lawn where the sheer rage of Eastwood towards these thugs is electrifying.
The non-professional Hmong cast are perfectly adequate in their roles with Bee Vang as Tao fine & Ahney Herr (who benefits from playing a spirited young girl) as Sue particularly impressive. For me she made far more of an impression than Frieda Pinto did in Slumdog Millionaire.
I loved that the film advocates working class values without being condescending or superior. Just contrast Gran Torino's view of suburban life & its affection for the people who live there with the contempt & self-satisfied superiority of a Revolutionary Road. But then one was made by a condescending Brit, the other by an unpretentious American artist. There's not a shred of smugness or irony in Gran Torino & that's a beautiful thing to see.
Personal redemption, traditional American values, the importance of having a man guide a youngster on to the right path in life .. it's all here & anchored by a sensational performance by its star.
Eastwood's redemption is beautifully developed & the outcome completely unexpected & one reason why, if you'll forgive the expression, this film blows Unforgiven out of the water.
It is quite simply classic movie-making from American cinema's greatest living director. Rock on, Clint!

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Danny-K said...

Posted on Mar 04 2009 02:09 Me again. Just want to comment on the central relationship that drives the film. That between Walt and his next door neighbours, the young Asian brother and sister, 'Toad' and Sue.
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All the professional reviews (and public postings), have commented on the friendship that develops between the three. Even Walt mentions 'my friend'. But I think Clint is speaking the words that Walt would - when in actual fact he comes to regard the young boy and girl as the son and daughter he missed out on with his own family. His own family have no time for him - but these Asian kids come to hero worship him - despite his racial abuse of them. At one point it's made clear that 'Toad' has no father or male role model to look up to or to learn from - Walt soon puts that right - the barber scene, helping him seek employment and loaning him tools to learn a trade. Walt can't come out and say, these are the son and daughter I never had, a] He would never dream of upsetting his own absent family that way, and b] he wouldn't want his friends to call him a pussy, (his favourite insult to 'Toad') - He even learns to pronounce Toad's name correctly too - Thao!
'
It's this aspect of the film that some condemn as too 'cosy-Disney like', but it's needed to explain the climax ending of the film. When you see the poignant ending, you have to say to yourself - what kind of person would do that?
- Answer: Only someone who loved his 'family'. When the film is over ask yourself who was his 'real' family?
When bad things happen to young Asians Walt doesn't get mad because his 'friends' have been hurt, he gets mad in the only way a father gets mad when his children are put in harms way.

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usman khawaja said...

Posted on Mar 04 2009 00:14 mike thats not fair
this is the best drama to come out from america or england in the last two years
and its true simplicity is always most affective

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Danny-K said...

Posted on Mar 03 2009 23:34 Marvelous film - hugely enjoyable!
It's long overdue that screen time was given to a quote 'racist' unquote with good as well as bad intentions. It's been a long, long, time since the last memorable one - Rod Steiger in 'The Heat Of The Night', (1967). Because the character that Clint plays is not a racist per se rather someone who like many in the western world at the moment are afraid of the unknown, strange looking peoples with strange languages. And whilst not overtly racist, they are afraid to voice their fears for fear of being labelled - a rasist.
Well Clint, (Walt in this case), doesn't give a fig what anyone thinks of him and voices his dislike of the changes going on around him. The audience in the cinema I was in, was laughing for about seven tenths of the film. (When offered food by the Asians he responds tartly: "Don't go cooking my dog"). Also there isn't the amount of violence you may have been led to believe - if you want to see that go see the martial art films, or read a comic book. I suppose it's message is : the more we know about our fellow humans, no matter how they look, how they talk or how they live the less we will come to fear them. It's a terrific film and I'm pleased that at the time of posting this, the latest figures show Gran Torino is hitting big sales at the box office, right up the backside of the official Oscar winners and causing them embarrassment - what does that tell you?

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Mike said...

Posted on Mar 03 2009 15:04 This is not an action film like i was expecting not what the adverts made out!!
Excellent drama film
Rubbish Action
There was nothing dirty harry about this one im afraid.

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Kevin said...

Posted on Mar 02 2009 21:30 Excellent film, very funny in parts. Well worth going to see.

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usman khawaja said...

Posted on Mar 01 2009 16:53 grand slam by a grand man
just about the time when you are totally disgusted with improbable fantasy fiction and half baked characters littering the screen .it is left to clint an icon from the sixties to give a textbook lesson to the world how intimate cinema can be made with humanity shown in a harsh yet gentle light with an ethereal sensible optimisism in a world where all ia going awry,
superficially it is about about a mixed AMERICAN neighbouhood where a grizzled old man pretending to be biittter and mean conservative is mourning for his recently deceased wife while he is simultaneously trying his best to be as antagonistic and overtly racist to his family and hmong neighbours who are all actually in awe of both him and his vintage vehicle of the name- a 73 gran torino .
this is posthumously a move where a talented giant of a genius film-maker has weaved a terrific modern real humane poem from mixing the various ingredients of the contemporary modern american and global culture .
his disgruntled selfish teenage grandchildren and the even more immoral and crass sons who are out to grab something from the inheritance become a cliche yet a humourous peripheral subplot but clint is a calm stoic and outspoken honest loner who has both stength of mind and character to seduce the worst cynics with a tightly penned and wryly intelligent script immersed in everday life as if nothing is out of place ,as he relishes a new chapter in his life rehabilitating his new friendship with two warm young asian neighbours whom he initially despised ,he opens a metaphorical pandoras box for a melting pot that the globe has become and how to indulge in this to your best advantage .
in the middle of this ruckus tan the young hmong boy is goaded as an initiation to steal walts pristine car in an attempt which is bungled but TOAD as walt adresses him becomes walts protege with his sister sue becoming his best friend .
as a realtionship is established between the foreign family and the suburban korean veteran ,
taw the young boy comes under his wing and he trains him building a grand rapport between the two varied cuktural races and bridging a conduit between humanity and its varied generations ,
the study of cultural behaviour and the human race in unison as the ultimate transition transpires in an american suburb involves the influence of the existential street gangs ,gun culture and other modern evils yet the celebration of humanity continues with trivia like the interaction between walt and his dog called daisy and the first and last catholic confessional that he indulges in which is a gem of a brilliant acting piece that almost is a piece of spiritual catharsis for all humanity .
there are some very ingenious and culturally enriched sequences which illuminate and win our hearts and minds and are truly divine with a purity and sanctity in a simple affair not seen for eons in cinema .
here clint has struck a genuine master chord of genius which makes this movie leagues ahead from any othrer movie designed in 2008 as well as giving an absolution to american cinema and redeeming the american milieu of its malignant pustules as clint takes a masterclass millions of times better then the rest of cinema being served in artificial technical trash with foul smelling public relations .
the morality of law and the actual arbiter of justice which infuses the human spirit of the characters as perceived by their own acts and as judged by the actions of the evil protagonists has to be put right and the ingenious and emotionally enriched parable he creates is a sacrifice which makes you sit in stunned silence for a while before you break into applause .
the plot ,characters and the really wry dialogues delivered with a twinkle in his eye and lean frames and heamoptysis is ominous of other problems but the human dilemma of what is human responsibility is to a foreign culture who now are here to stay has been discussed in a definitive yet noble manner which actually need to be exported abroad too as the rest of globe is in dire straits too,
eastwoods act is a nuanced and macho mix with a fascinating fatalism and his character is a mystery to the end as he divulges little beyond his almost martial speeches about the evils of the korean war and the community of modern steet gangs and religion itself .
the movie has a a kind of gloom in the the looms of the modern doom as it shows that evil is in control and no one can escape it but human brain is an amazing creation and it can supersede the gloom and win , particularly when it belongs to eastwood .
full five stars and more

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morri said...

Posted on Feb 28 2009 21:33 I thought this film was brilliant and shows a hard yet soft side to Clint Eastwood.It has a very dry sense of humour and makes you laugh all the way through the film. Brilliant acting as well who can ever fault his acting .He looks really good for his age,and his biceps,wow!!I would definitely recommend this film to anyone, has quite a bit of swearing so beware. It is a film that you would wanna watch again and again, or rewind to the best parts. a little disappointed with the ending, but you'll see why he did it,just expected a bit more fighting from Clint. Well done Clint Eastwood, Superb........

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morri said...

Posted on Feb 28 2009 21:30 I thought this film was brilliant and shows a hard yet soft side to Clint Eastwood.It has a very dry sense of humour and makes you laugh all the way through the film. Brilliant acting as well who can ever fault his acting .He looks really good for his age,and his biceps,wow!!I would definitely recommend this film to anyone, has quite a bit of swearing so beware. It is a film that you would wanna watch again and again, or rewind to the best parts. Well done Clint Eastwood, jSuperb........

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cbarnes25 said...

Posted on Feb 28 2009 21:01 Totally brilliant. This film is funny, violent, emotional and very perceptive. It challenges many issues concerning racism and religion. It challenges American values. It raise the profile of hmong people in USA. It is important, entertaining, educational and artistic. I salute Clint Eastwood for starring in and directing a masterpiece. I loved it and cried at the end. Given my background that takes a lot , believe me. I have a dreadful premonition it will be his last. Please prove me wrong.

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Alan said...

Posted on Feb 28 2009 20:49 Well it wasn't what we were expecting, but we thought that it was a fantastic film. So it seems did the packed cinema!
People were clapping at the end.
If you are after a 'dirty harry film then it isn't for you.
If you want a great film with story then go see!

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