Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski’s prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino. Slowly (and I mean slowly) we are intoduced to the man behind the prejudice, as even a remarkable young priest tries to get the elderly man to open up about his life, and his fears.
The Truth
Gran Torino had a lot of hype around it, but for all the wrong reasons. You see, it really wasn’t a good movie, it was rather slow and mostly uneventful. We never get attached to Kowalski, even though Eastwood tries to shove the character’s background down our through every chance he gets.
The problem with this film is the fact they treat us like idiots. We understand Walt Kowalski is old skool, a tad racist… we get it. So why is it that every 3 minutes, they have to keep reinforcing this fact over and over again? He keeps using the work ‘gook’ over again, just in case we forgot Walt Kowalski was prejudice. He keeps using racial slurs at awkward times, and it really backfires, because its so unnatural and clumsy.
Its so typical though, how Eastwood wouldn’t go all the way with the film and really get into the character. He has no problem putting down the Koreans, Italians etc, because as a collective group, they don’t care. Italians and Koreans do not march, or raise a stink, when they are insulted in any way. So why is it then, that Walt Kowalski would only call the black people ’spooks’ and not ‘ni**ers’? I’ll tell you why, because Clint Eastwood is a coward who wouldn’t dare mutter those words, for fear the black socialites would protest his film.
This really bothered me about Gran Torino, because we all know that a person like Walt Kowalski would have used the ‘N Word’ at every chance, and Eastwooed pussied out of this film by leaving this out of the film.
So just why the hell was Gran Torino getting such good press for a very average movie? The film itself is really slow, really dull and mostly uneventful. The word around the industry that Eastwood was really stirring the pot with his racial undertones sent the buzz sky high for Gran Torino.
The ending was almost laughable (please stop reading if you don’t want to read about the ending), with the laugh out loud shoot out that Walt Kowalski endures. I suppose were were supposed to take a message out of this film, that we should accept everyone, give our neighbors a chance… open our hearts blah blah blah… but in the end it just ended up cheesy and predictable.
So, in the end, Walt Kowalski left his most prized possession to the young boy who really got him killed. You see, if the gang banging Koreans never moved in next door, Walt Kowalski would have never had to get involved and eventually blown apart. Whats the message here Clint?
The Action
The action for Gran Torino was all in the trailer. Yes, they fooled us again.
What’s bad about it?
Walt Kowalski trying to force out a racial term for every character he meets in the film, besides the blacks. The character was so unrealistic and forced, it was laughable. Stop treating us like we are idiots, we get it. He’s a racist, STOP DEMONSTRATING THIS TO US EVERY CHANCE YOU GET, asshole.
You’ll Like It If
If its a rainy, cold day, and nothing else is left in the video store.
The Verdict
Gran Torino was a disappointing, and typical ‘white guilt’ movie that never broke any barriers. Eastwood picks on the groups that he knew would never fight back, and leaves his main character weak and laughable.
I didn’t enjoy much of the film, the underlying message was rather corny and I’ve seen this plot too many times. If you are going to tackle real issues about prejudice, racism and intolerance, then go all the way and don’t stop at the one group you know will fight back. Grow some balls Mr. Eastwood, Gran Torino was a mockery to anyone that expected a serious Drama.
Gran Torino was a Gran Failure. { Sorry, thats the best I could come up with}
Tags: Clint Eastwood, Clint Eastwood 2008 Movie, Crime 2008, Drama 2008