Gran Torino (2008)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Starring Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her.

Gran Torino is a film of two halves. It bears all the traditional hallmarks of a Clint Eastwood movie – an underdog protecting a group of disadvantaged people from thugs or bullies. This is Unforgiven updated to the 21^st century, and being a huge Eastwood fan, I really wanted it to work. Walt Kowalski, a grizzled Korean War veteran, is typical of Eastwood’s characters. So typical, he is a stereotype. You’ve seen it all before, he’s done it all before – the film is like a Clint Greatest Hits collection. The silent showdowns of the Man With No Name, the growling voice of Dirty Harry, the avenging angel that is the Preacher. Eastwood unsuccessfully attempts to create a strange amalgamation of all of these characters, to the point that only several times in the film do we see a flash of something new and interesting.

The first half is disappointing – repetition rules the first twenty minutes as we see Eastwood’s grumpy Kowalski brush aside every offer of help or friendship from the local priest (Carley, totally unsuitable in what should have been a crucial role.) The racist slurs are thrown left and right, as Eastwood, on and off screen, tries a little too hard to show what vultures his family are, how grizzled Kowalski is and how much he hates the ‘gooks’ next door. Eastwood’s cantankerous, ill-tempered characterisation already is a cliché – he makes it even more so in the first forty-five minutes. By the time the second half begins, it is difficult to take the film seriously, as I was left with an uneasy feeling – is it supposed to be unintentionally funny or are we supposed to see humour in an 80 year old man beating up thugs a quarter of his age?

While the first half builds up an unrealistic world of 80 year old men being intimidating, no matter how much they resemble Clint Eastwood, the second half tears this down. Eastwood has tremendous rapport with Sue (Ahney Her, remarkable in a debut role) but little with Thao, the principal supporting character and the young man he takes under his wing. This relationship, which should have been essential to the film, is weak. Only until Sue is brutally raped do we see a side to Eastwood that should have been present from the beginning – he becomes a very human character. He cries in the dark, smashes tables and cabinets in anger, and goes looking for vengeance. This sudden injection of realism contrasts with everything in the film before, and cripples Torino because of it.

The ending is the standout piece, an unusual, interesting twist on the Eastwood film legend. He wins, but there is a tremendous sacrifice that has to be made for it. Only then do we truly care for the character, but it comes far too late, and I am left wondering what a magnificent film this could have been had it ditched the stereotype, inexperienced actors and 2D characters in the beginning. The ending clashes with the remainder of the film, as in one move, Eastwood rejects the violence that has defined his career, while only an hour earlier, he revels in it. Unforgiven would have been a far better swansong for a beloved, respected actor and director.

Rating: 6/10.