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I dare anyone to say to me that Clint Eastwood
isn’t a Hollywood Icon. I dare anyone
to say to me that he can’t act or
direct. Go ahead, do you feel lucky punks?”
Try me.
Clint Eastwood is the kind of Hollywood
guy I respect. He’s not full of himself,
you don’t find him at every party,
and he takes his craft seriously. Of course
there are a lot of actors who claim to take
their craft seriously, but most of them
are younger hacks that really, really need
to get a grip on life. But I digress. Eastwood
has done it all. He acts, he writes, he
directs, hell he plays the piano. Who’d
a thought?
His most recent foray both in front of
and behind the camera is “Gran Torino.”
This film, like its namesake, is quite the
vehicle.
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Eastwood steps comfortably into the shoes of
Walt Kowalksi, a Korean War Vet, retired automaker
and recent widower. He has had a hard life, made
all the harder and perhaps more bitter by the
recent passing of his wife. He is a loner, who
would rather spend time with his dog than with
what is left of his family.
Walt first comes across to us as a bit of a racist
as he spouts epithets right and left towards his
mostly Asian neighbors. One boy from the neighborhood,
Thao (Bee Vang), is forced by his ‘gangster’
friends to try and steal Walt’s prized Gran
Torino. He is caught and chased off. For all intents
this should be the end of it. But when Walt grudgingly
comes to the aid of the boy’s family as
they are menaced by his friends, he becomes a
hero in their eyes.
Here is where the film really takes you away.
The family insists that Thao make up for trying
to steal the car by doing work for him. Neither
Walt nor Thao want anything to do with each other,
but situations bring them together as Walt becomes
a surrogate father to the boy. Unfortunately,
the gang violence only gets worse.
“Gran Torino” is a fascinating film
in terms of character study and Eastwood expertly
directed his mostly non-professional cast into
giving powerful and believable performances. The
film is quiet in its intensity, the scenes that
resonate being more the dialogue heavy ones as
opposed to the violent. There is only one scene
in the entire film that I felt went too far and
did not entirely ring true, and though it is emotionally
stringent, I’m still not quite convinced
it was the right direction to go for such a pivotal
sequence. You’ll know it when you see it.
Warner Brothers Blu-ray release offers an exquisite
audio and visual presentation of “Gran Torino.”
Many of the scenes are dark and quiet, but there
was no noticeable degradation in the picture or
sound in any of these parts. As for extra features,
they are a little sparse, but not too bad overall.
“Manning the Wheel” gives a little
bit of history about man’s relationship
with cars and how this played into the film. “Gran
Torino: More than A Car” also touches on
this a little bit more. The best extra is a Blu-ray
exclusive, “The Eastwood Way”, which
is a bit of a behind the scenes featurette. Here
the cast and crew discuss the film. It comes in
a little under 20 minutes, but is still fairly
full. You’ll also be able to download a
digital copy of the film.
When I first heard about “Gran Torino”,
I was told to expect an aging Harry Callahan.
While I could see that a little bit and found
it amusing, Eastwood’s portrayal of Walt
Kowalksi is much, much deeper than that. He was
sadly overlooked at this year’s Academy
Awards.
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her
Extras: Manning the Wheel; Gran Torino –
More Than a Car; The Eastwood Way; BD-Live Features;
Digital Copy
Specifications: 1080p High Definition Widescreen
(2.4:1), Dolby True-HD
Studio: Warner
Release Date: 6/9/2009
MPAA Rating: R
http://www.thegrantorino.com/
We'll give Gran Torino an A.
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