| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| turrell |
Posted - 01/15/2009 : 18:52:11
I'm surprised no one has talked about this movie yet partly because it was atop the US Box office last weekend and partly because it was a damn fine film.
In short Eastwood plays an elderly Korean War veteran in Detroit who wants to be left to die in peace after his wife dies. Before dying she made her priest a perfectly cast teenage-looking boy promise that he would take Eastwood's confession.
The plan is going along fine until he inadvertently helps his Hmong (an Asian ethnicity) neighbors with a dispute involving a local Hmong gang. The family adopts him and he finds purpose in his waning days.
The overall arc is dramatic - almost Hemingway-esque - but overall this is one of the funniest films I've seen in a long time. Eastwood is an equal opportunity offender of all races and issues one-liners in all directions to great comic effect. Along the way he tries to save a family and teach a boy how to be a man - something he failed to do with his own children.
If this is Eastwood's last acting role (and I truly hope it is not) then he goes out on top. Eastwood again proves he is Hollywood's most reliable film director as well as one of its most prolific. |
| 10 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| damalc |
Posted - 04/21/2009 : 02:58:05
not bad, but nothing special. it could have been titled, "Dirty Harry: Gran Torino."
there was a lot of less than average acting, and the racist comments got old quick. were the Eastwood growls supposed to be funny? they reminded me of the old Hobbit lady growling at Gandalf as he rode into the shire.
i'm wondering how the hell the Asian gangsters got caught so easily. what did they do, just sit on the front yard 'til police arrived? |
| Beanmimo |
Posted - 03/12/2009 : 13:19:48
Yes the expostiton in the first few scenes was grating and yes the Hmong actors weren't great but still it was better than any of the oscar nominations for best picture in '09.
It is anti violence, anti rascist, anti smoking, anti ageist while painting a lovely characterisation of curmudgeonly Walt and his interactions with the crumblimng of his life and neighbourhood filled with a wonderful dry wit.
Highly recommended. |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 03/01/2009 : 21:31:11
Well, despite its flaws I did like it a lot - even though, as benj says, the ending was totally predictable.
But I don't think any of the plot is what matters. It's a film that's as much social comment as drama.
It's a film about the fading past, passing on, passing down wisdoms, passing along what's still useful. And, above all, it's an indictment about the easy assumptions we make when we regard "the other" in generalities. It's not an ethnic thing, but something born of fear.
Fear of change. Fear of dying. Fear of the unfamiliar.
And that the way past all that fear is allowing yourself to rescue what's good about the past and adapt it to the future. No matter how damaged we are as people, our repair is in the hands of each other, in an exchange between us that recognizes ourselves in others.
Walt takes it to the max, which is what makes the end predictable, but also inevitable.
Killing, violence, destruction -- these are not the answers. Not in war. Not in self-defense. Not in vengence.
Eastwood began this theme with The Unforgiven, but he copped out. Here he achieves a moral resolution.
I'm pretty sure that's why the choice was made to introduce the religious leitmotif. It might have been more brutally honest, though a hell of a lot more difficult dramatically, to have equated 'moral' with something other than religion. But it works in context.
The narrative holes are primarily to do with any below the surface relationships with the two sons. One nearly disappears after we first meet him. And the other is pretty sketchy. So we're told more about father/sons than we actually see. I realize that set-up is the catalyst for Walt's 'apprenticeship' of Thao, but those transitions could have been smoother.
Yet Eastwood the director has acquired such authority as a story-teller that the film works as a powerful whole, stitched together with both humor and an acknowledgment that everyone is imperfect so we'd just better accept who we are and get on with it.
He describes himself as a pragmatist, and this film probably more than any of his others, exemplifies that approach to life.
|
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 02/27/2009 : 08:45:58
Gran Torino
I enjoyed it too, but I am surprised that its score is so high here. (When I scored it 4, it only changed its average from 4.9 to 4.8.) The ending is indeed highly predictable, and several of the 'actors' are really weak. At least the Hmong characters are, I'm assuming, played by actual Hmong and thus there were not so many to choose from. However, the worst actor by far is the priest, who is absolutely appalling.
On the upside, who knew that racism could be so entertaining? |
| benj clews |
Posted - 02/26/2009 : 13:16:54
Loved this film too. I also never knew "Nnngggghh" could express so many different emotions.
In fact, my only problem with the film was that, despite reviews I'd read saying the ending was brilliant, I thought it was highly predictable. Frankly, if he'd gone charging in guns a-blazing, I felt it would have been only been slightly more predictable. Not sure how else it could have ended mind, I was just expecting something more inspired I guess  |
| [matt] |
Posted - 02/26/2009 : 05:04:32
I saw this tonight, and I'm with turrell - I really loved it.
I found it gripping and quite moving, as well as hilarious! I was not expecting laughs from this film, but it's funnier than your average comedy. Clint's utter racism and permanently pissed off demeanour is just so bad that it's funny. And as turrell said, there are some fantastic one-liners, both serious and funny.
Definitely worth seeing. |
| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 01/23/2009 : 22:54:57
The overall arc is honestly really hokey and predictable, although livened up with a hilarious, unending string of unrepentant racism. I look forward to seeing the two young Asian actors have long successful careers in some other field besides acting -- they were fucking awful. It's only the presence of the majestic and amazing Clint Eastwood that makes the film work.
Nnngggghh. |
| Conan The Westy |
Posted - 01/23/2009 : 22:47:33
Saw it last night and loved it. The "How to talk Racist 101" in the barbershop nearly had me crying with laughter. |
| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 01/22/2009 : 21:59:16
I seen it. Really not Eastwood's best work, weak script. But goddamn do I like seeing Eastwood go "Nnngggh" at people. We've been doing that all week in the apartment I live in. "Nnnggggh. Nnnggghh." |
| turrell |
Posted - 01/22/2009 : 20:24:57
Really? No one has seen this? |
|
|
