Customer Reviews

Gran Torino (Widescreen English/French Language Version)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Throughout his illustrious acting career, Clint Eastwood has delivered a series of iconic characters, such as The Man with no name, Dirty Harry, Josie Wales, and Will Munny in Unforgiven.

Throughout his illustrious directing career he has delivered outstanding movies such as Unforgiven, Mystic River, and Million Dollar Baby, for which he has won five Academy Awards, for best Picture, Best Director, and including the Irving Thalberg Life Achievement Award.

The actors who have worked with him have been blessed with Oscar: Gene Hackman for Unforgiven, Tim Robbins and Sean Penn for Mystic River, Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby.

In Gran Torino he both directs and acts, and delivers an acting performance that will be remembered long after the final credits roll, in its unique way, as memorable as any other character he has created.

Gran Torino is the second best movie I have seen this year. Not just for the acting, not just for the directing, but for the storytelling, and the emotional journey on which it takes you, the laughter, the feeling of being gripped, and its more surprising moments.

In the opening scenes, we have the exposition of the character. We get to know Walt Kowalski, by how people act around him, and his seemingly hateful attitude towards people. More is conveyed through a scowl, and a snarl than with words. When the mischievous grandchildren go through his stuff in the basement, we see the Silver Star he won in Korea. There are three other important symbols in the movie, the lighter, the gun, and the car.

We see a hero with a warrior past, a patriot who fought for a cause greater than himself. Clearly, his bigotry stems from those experiences.

He's not just mean, he's 'get of my lawn' mean. He's Dirty Harry 'Go ahead punk, make my day!,' mean.

His dead wife's priest bugs him to hear his confession, at her request. The priest in a way is his wife's conscience.

When he snarls down the barrel of his rifle, at the neighborhood punk: 'I could blow your head off, and sleep like a baby,' you get the sense that he means it.

So, with all that happens, we see the change in his decision making, from someone reluctant to be involved in his neighbor's affairs, and a story can turn on something as random as looking at an empty beer cooler.

For all his faults, Walt has mature masculine character. Even though he is a difficult father, he has taught his children character. So, when he sees the boy next door lacks character, and a strong male role model, he takes him under his wing, and teaches him how to be a man.

The scenes where the boy practises Walt's high octane ball busting banter, are the funniest in the movie. Through knowing Walt, he makes decisions he never would have made by himself. In so doing, Walt finds meaning and purpose, and a chance for redemption, and the boy becomes a man.

The Academy's actor awards tend to go to actors in two types of role:

1.Psychopath- No Country for Old Men, The Usual Suspects, There Will Be Blood, Training Day, Silence of the Lambs.

2.Mentally Disabled, Social or Physical Handicap, overcomes great adversity or discrimination- Shine, As Good as It Gets, A Beautiful Mind, Ray, Scent of a Woman, Capote, Philadelphia, The Pianist, A Beautiful Life.

Every rule has an exception. Russell Crowe in Gladiator played a character with thematic similarities to Walt.

For a 78 year old man to direct and be lead actor in a movie of this caliber is an achievement worthy at the very least of being nominated for the highest award for Acting, Directing or both.

I hope you find this review helpful. Amazon USA 2009.

It seems that anything Clint Eastwood is in, or directs is good. This movie is no exception. He plays a harsh, bigoted, tough character who shows he has a very caring side. I think that this is not an easy things for an actor to do. Clint's charisma and acting talent really shine in this movie. Highly enjoyable.

Clint Eastwood fan! This has to be one of his best movies ever, and I think I have seen/own most of them

This movie is one of Clint Eastwood's finest. No doubt if you read the product description, you already have some what it's about. So all you need to know beyond that, is that it's a masterpiece, and definitely worth seeing. I picked this film up on DVD for roughly ten dollars, Canadian, and I have to say that at that price this movie was an absolute steal.

The only negativity I can say about it, is that this DVD doesn't have alot to offer in terms of special features. When you get right down to it, it's really a minor complaint. Not even worth taking a star off the rank. Sure it would be nice to have something like a director's commentary or something similar, but it's really not much of a problem. I fully recommend buying and watching this movie, the second you have the money for it. You likely won't regret it.

Gran Torino (2008)
Drama, 116 minutes
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Starring Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang and Ahney Her

Gran Torino was a total surprise to me when I first viewed it. I had no idea what it might be about and the cover suggested it would be an action movie. With Clint Eastwood being almost 80 years of age at the time, I couldn't see how it would work.

It turns out that it isn't an action movie at all. The main themes include age, the loss of a loved one, racism, friendship, family, religion, and personal growth.

Walt Kowalsky is a Korean war veteran and one of the last white people in a neighborhood mostly populated by Hmong residents. The film opens with his wife's funeral. He's suddenly friendless and alone, but for the unwanted attention of his two sons and their families, who see him as a burden and wonder what he'll leave them when he dies.

The local priest (Carley) promised Walt's wife that he would keep an eye on Walt and try to get him to go to confession. His immediate neighbors annoy him; especially when their boy, Thao (Vang), tries to steal his beloved '72 Gran Torino. To complete Walt's misery, he's coughing up blood and may not have long to live.

That all sounds pretty miserable, doesn't it? Despite the grim situation, Gran Torino has a great deal of (intelligent) humor. Walt doesn't pull his punches: he refers to Asians as Gooks and Blacks as Spooks. He tells the persistent priest that he's an "over-educated 27-year-old virgin who likes to hold the hands of old ladies who are superstitious and promise them eternity." He speaks in grunts and snarls and seems to hate every person he deals with.

Walt is a complex character. His neighbors convince him to accept Thao's apology for trying to steal his car by offering the boy's labor for a week. Thao works hard and earns Walt's respect. The two actually develop a friendship of sorts and Walt also likes Thao's sister, Sue (Her). As unlikely as it may seem, from Walt's perspective, he finds that his neighbors are decent people and takes an interest in their lives. He finds that he has more in common with them than his own family.

I won't give away any more details, but the story shows how people still have the capacity for change, despite advanced age and a lifetime of behaving in a certain way. The humor is frequent, with Eastwood timing his lines perfectly. At the risk of sounding dramatic, this might just be Eastwood's best acting performance. It's certainly my favorite performance from those that I have seen.

If anything, this movie cements Clint Eastwood's reputation as one of cinema's great talents. What's even more impressive, in addition to his jaw-dropping performance, is that he also directed this film.

Fans of Dirty Harry especially will love this one, as Eastwood reprises his tough guy role. In here, he plays a retired Ford auto worker and widower who lives in a run-down Detroit neighborhood. When gangs threaten his livelihood as well as those of his neighbours, Eastwood takes matters into his own hands, in spectacular fasion. Simply put, one of the best and most entertaining movies of this decade. Very highly recommended.

Here are ten personal observations as to why "Gran Torino" should be considered a significant movie release this year:
A. It addresses the importance of fathers in raising their children. This is one huge social problem in western society, where boys are being raised exclusively by their mothers. The main character, Walt, an aging disconnected parent himself, is given a second chance to befriend and become a surrogate father for a young Korean boy who has just moved into the neighborhood;
B. It highlights the negative things that are happening to suburbia America, what with the rise in crime in socially and economically declining neighborhoods. Gang infestation and drug dealing are the direct result of disaffected youth trying to empower their lives by controlling their environment;
C. It points out the need for neighborhoods to come together in order to overcome serious social issues. Learning to live in small communities is often the best way to work through personal problems. Living in isolation is obviously not the answer as it drives people apart;
D. It showcases the Gran Torino as a fine example of what Detroit could make if only it recommitted itself to quality;
E. It tells a heart-warming story that involves people learning to adjust to each other's needs;
F. It has Clint Eastwood as the main star who, with all his crusty, weather-beaten, grizzled features, still manages to win the affection of the audience;
G. It brings young and old together in the big game of survival;
H. It introduces viewers to a cultural group from the hills of Laos who have some very curious and interesting cultural practices;
I. It has a very unique ending;
J. There are a lot of funny moments in the movie resulting from two different cultures trying to understand each other.

"Gran Torino" is a different kind of Clint Eastwood movie. Yes he still has a gun (you will have to see how he uses it) but his character is different from any that I have seen him play again. In this movie, Eastwood plays the role of Walt Kowalski, an elderly, crotchety, widower, who, living with his legacy from the Korean War, gradually comes to terms with his ethnically changing, gang infested neighborhood. Key characters include his Hmong neighbors, played by Bee Vang, Ahney Her and a young priest, played by Christopher Carley. All turn in compelling performances as they slowly gain new understandings of those around them. As the story progresses, Kowlaski moves from a not very likable old man to a personification of the Christ motif found so often in literature. By the end, the viewer realizes that he is viewing a modern Morality Play.

I had already seen this DVD back in the UK where I live and considered it to be one of Clint's best. The older he gets it seems, so do his films, particularly 'The Changeling' and now 'Gran Torino' I bought this DVD for my Son and daughter-in-law now living in Toronto and hope that they enjoy it as much as I did. Keep them coming Clint!

I have buying all my movies on blu-ray and even re-buying some of the ones I have on DVD on blu-ray as well if I feel they are worthy. I generally try and buy the visually appealing ones on blu-ray such as action packed or sci-fi stuff. So I was hesitant to get this one on blu-ray, mostly talking, not really any action...but I ignored my instincts and got the blu-ray. I swear if someone had told me this was a blu-ray I wouldn't have believed them. I actually took the disc out after it was over and checked to see if it said blu-ray on it because I swear to god it was a DVD. The sound was nothing special at all, even the scenes with the gunfire sounded muffled, when I remember it being booming in the theater. The picture seemed saturated and grainy, nothing seemed defined or stuck out at all. So I watched the digital copy on my computer and while the picture looked the same, the sound was vastly improved. changing the audio settings on the disc did nothing.