Gran Torino Review

I think most reviewers get one point wrong about Walt Kowalski, Clint Eastwood's character in Gran Torino. Everyone remarks that Walt is a racist, and he certainly uses strong language that we associate with racial intolerance. However, Walt is more of a "timist" than anything -- his beef is not with the race of the people around him, but the time in which he is living. Walt would prefer to turn back the clock to a time when everything made sense and his beloved 1972 Ford Gran Torino ruled the streets with gas-gulping muscle.

Walt lives in Detroit, in a neighborhood that has just about completely gone ethnic. Gran Torino opens with Walt at his wife's funeral, while the extended Hmung family next door celebrates the birth of a child. Walt fights the changes of time with a string of obscenities and slurs that are actually... well, funny. When Thao (Bee Vang), the timid Hmung teen next door, tries to steal the Gran Torino as part of a gang initiation, Walt stops him with his Korean War M1 rifle. Brought back to Walt's door to make amends, Walt reluctantly has Thao do chores around the house and neighborhood. Standing up to Hmung gangbangers makes Walt something of a reluctant hero in the neighborhood, and he slowly becomes a father figure to Thao and his spunky sister Sue (Ahney Her).

Can Walt keep the gangs away from Thao and Sue? Will the baby-faced but persistant priest from the Catholic Church leave Walt to absolve his Korean War sins? Is there a place in today's America for an anachronism like Walt Kowalski?

I really enjoyed Gran Torino. Even deep in his 70s, no one plays a tough but principled character as well as Clint Eastwood. When punks in his front yard mistake Walt for a weak old man, he dispels that thought with a snarl that would have made Dirty Harry cringe. At the same time, the language in this film is very strong. It fits the character, although many of the racial slurs uttered good-naturedly in Gran Torino are just there for shock-comedy value. I can't imagine that any intelligent person (which Walt obviously is) would use the misanthropic language he uses when invited to share a meal at a friendly neighbor's home.

Not only was Clint Eastwood wonderful in Gran Torino, the cast of mostly unknowns (most of them Hmung) added a great deal of authenticity to the film. And I wouldn't mind having that 1972 Gran Torino, either.

Gran Torino has some violence and LOTS of rough language, but it's fine for 16-year-olds and up. The ultimate lesson of the film is one of redemption. Even old curmudgeons can find redemption in a fine movie like Gran Torino.