Clint Eastwood's character is interesting; the rest is garbage

Rating: 3/10 (14 January 2009)

This movie has so many problems that I'm not sure where to begin. So i'll simply mention things as they come to be, rather than in chronological order. The first thing that has to go from this film is the awful scene at the barbershop where Clint is trying to teach Thao how to interact with people. Awful, awful, awful, and it goes on and on, and then it ends with the lamest joke about anal sex with some carpenters. Actually, all the barbershop scenes can go, because the only thing they accomplish is to show that Clint's character makes racist remarks even with his friends. But we get that from the scene with the Irish foreman. The priest should have been recast. That said, the scene near the end when the priest just walks right into Clint's house is terrible. The whole movie the priest has been calling Clint's character by his first name, and Clint keeps correcting him, asking to be called Mr. Kowalski, and then predictably in this late scene the priest calls him Mr. Kowalski, and Clint says, "Call me Walt." Awful. And nothing is accomplished in the scene anyway. The editing is poor also. Scenes that have ended continue for a few more moments. For example, the scene where Sue is being hassled by three black guys is over once Clint gets her into his truck and they drive away. But the scene continues with a crane shot of the three guys walking away and talking about Clint. What do we care what these guys think of him? The scene is over, move on. Okay, now for some real spoilers... The end is completely retarded. Clint's character should not die that way. After all, his standing up to the gang earlier should have empowered the neighborhood to take a stand. They should have reported the names of the guys who raped and beat Sue. Instead, Clint goes on a suicide mission, somehow knowing that only then would people tell the police what's been going on. Someone says, "This time there were witnesses." Well, hell, there were witnesses every time, but no one was willing to speak up. Why should they now? It's ridiculous. And then of course the kid inherits the stupid car. Who cares? What he should have inherited was the tools. The tools are what really brought those two characters together; the tools are what will be useful to him in allowing him to get on with his life. The movie is plagued by some of the worst acting i've ever seen in a film. The bit where Thao is locked in Clint's basement and he's demanding to be let out had the whole audience laughing, and it was supposed to be a serious moment. I don't understand why people love this film. My only guess is that the vast majority of film-goers are morons. Oh well.