Gran Torino: Worthy of all the Praise?

 Upon seeing Clint Eastwood’s latest film Gran Torino, in which he directed, produced, and starred in, I left the theatre almost as disgruntled and angry as Eastwood’s poorly acted character. 

Gran Torino follows the story of Walt Kowalski: a bigoted, disgruntled, and recently widowed Korean War Vet. Within the fist seconds of seeing Kowalski (at his wife’s funeral, one of the opening scenes), his character type becomes completely evident: a racist, grizzled, downright angry old timer, irritated at what has become of the people and world around him. Shortly after his wife’s passing leaves him alone in their big, empty house with their faithful yellow lab Daisy (possibly the most well-behaved character in the film), Kowalski accidentally interrupts a dangerous gang initiation between his timid next door neighbor, Tao, and the local Hmong gang, which is actually taking place in Kowalski’s garage. To grant admission to the reluctant Tao, too timorous and fragile to say no, Tao must steal Kowalski’s 1972 mint-condition Gran Torino. To say the least, after walking in on his teenage neighbor trying to steal his vintage Gran Torino, Kowalski develops the strongest of animosities with his neighbors. After many tense nights of waiting on the front porch, 50 year old rife in hand, Kowalski’s feud with the neighbors finally burns out when Tao shows up to “repay his debt” and clear his bad name with Kowalski, by doing various housework chores for around the house for him. Soon enough, Kowalski befriends young Tao and his sister Sue and the rest of their traditional Hmong family. After the Hmong gang sees the mentorship between Tao and Kowalski, the violence begins and the two erupt in a full-blown war (yes, machine guns, AK-47’s and all).

Notwithstanding the countless ‘A+’, four star reviews, Oscar/Golden Globe/SAG/whatever award nominations Eastwood and the film are receiving, I’ll say it: I didn’t like it. This is why:

First of all, I could have acted in it, produced it (and the music), directed it, and written it. Not only was the plot completely minimal, basic and simple from every standpoint, but also the script and dialect were the farthest thing from ‘A+’, four star, and Oscar-worthy. Quite frankly, if I didn’t know otherwise, I would have thought that the scriptwriting was that of a racist middle schooler on a bigoted rant.  Gran Torino’s cinematography, script, acting, music, anything doesn’t even come close to the films seen in 2008 and so far in 2009. I saw no deep, profound meaning to the movie, no underlying theme (other than bloodshed and guns), and definitely no passion. The movie requires no further analysis, no further questioning, and no further searching for a deeper meaning. Eastwood’s overrated performance is dwarfed by the performances seen in Slumdog Millionaire, Angelina Jolie in Changeling, Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt, Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, and countless other performances.  To say the least, the film was poorly written and weakly acted. However, the writers of Gran Torino did go deep and run the extra mile on one aspect of their film, giving it all they’ve got and really getting creative…and that would be the language. I’ve never been witness to or heard such a vast array of racial slurs and offensive insults in my life. After a while in the movie I began to completely lose track of the plot and character’s lives and start to take count of how many different racist names I heard. And although the end of the story has a changed, now optimistic Walt looking past his prejudices and seeing people for who they really are, unfortunately, many people who see the movie completely miss that point and go straight to marveling and giggling over a badass, 78-year old Eastwood saying ‘the N-word’, and holding a rifle.

There really was nothing cinematically amazing about this movie; no innovative, cutting edge direction or breathtaking acting or interesting camera angles or anything of the sort. All you really have is a pissed off 78 year old man firing guns at his neighbors and ranting about how spoiled and ruined the world has become. So what’s all the hype? There really was nothing spectacular about any character’s performance, and quite frankly I don’t believe the movie deserves all the praise it’s getting. My suggestion: if you’re an Eastwood fan you’ll like it, but if you like movies that actually challenge you and make you think, don’t waste your time with Gran Torino.