Movie Review

Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood is back and in fine form as an old Polish, Korean War Veteran living in a Detroit suburb.  After his wife dies, Walt finds himself living alone in a neighborhood which has passed him by.  Where it was once all white auto workers, the neighborhood is now almost entirely minorities. And of these minorities, the Hmong seem to be in vast supply.

Walt is a mean, angry old son of a bitch.  He seems to hate just about everyone, including his grown kids, their kids, the local priest, and especially other races.  When a Hmong gang injects itself into Walt's neighborhood, he doesn't take too kindly and runs them off with a rifle pointed at their heads.

Walt gradually befriends the Hmong family next door, especially a young teenager who can't seem to fit in quite right in this new neighborhood.  The teenager's older sister also takes a liking to Walt, after Walt saves her from a dangerous situation.

When the Hmong gang members batter the teenage boy, Walt kicks the shit out of one of the gang members and warns him to stay away.  The gang retaliates by shooting up the teenager's house and raping his sister.  This takes us to the climax of the movie where Walt takes matters into his own hands.

Gran Torino is reminiscent of Unforgiven in a sense.  Unforgiven gave us a more 'real' possibility of life as a western gunfighter, where killing isn't always glamorous and 'unforgiving'.  Gran Torino also lets us get inside both the old son of bitch Walt and see more than just a guy who can kick some ass, and the Hmong neighbors who are trying to fit in to a new society after our cowardly liberal congress abandoned them in Vietnam after the Hmong fought bravely on our side.

It's not just about Clint kicking some ass in this one - it's about the interaction between the characters which makes the violence all that more powerful.  It also gives you a climax that will having you thinking about the movie for days after wards - which is much more than I can say about most movies I've seen lately.

Four out of five beers for Clint kicking ass in style with an intellectual edge and provocative climax.