Gran Torino, Eastwood all over.

Rating: 7/10 (16 December 2008)

The first thing that struck me when I started watching Gran Torino was the remarkable shape this guy is in at 78. He is simply amazing. The other characters in the movie are pretty insignificant and Clint Eastwood character Walter, as he is supposed to, is the only person who stands out. This is a Clint Eastwood movie, and has his name written on it all over.
Living in a Hmong community, Walter has a disdain for almost everything except his dead wife and his 1972 Gran Torino. His wife, he says to Toad (the neighborhood Hmong boy), was the best woman to have lived on the planet. As Korean War veteran who is an Atheist, he thwarts all attempts made by a young priest to make him confess until towards the end of the movie, he tells him about things that make him feel guilty. Though this happens at a church, it's not exactly by way of a confession, but much like opening up to a friend. His grunt is a familiar feature throughout the movie, and it is the grunt of an old man flustered by what he sees around him and is wondering what the hell it has all come down to. But he doesn't bore us with clichés of how good the old times were, instead settles for the grunt which does bring up a smile.
There are things that Clint shows us other than the main plot of the movie, which is a gang of no-good nearby rowdies are trying to force a young Hmong boy ('Toad') into horrible ways like their own. He shows us how his sons and grandsons fake their affection and love for him to get something out of him. They have their eyes on his house and his car and what not.
Toad is forced to steal the Gran Torino as an initiation into the gang and is caught by Walter. He escapes but Walter starts hating him and the likes of him. 'Get off my lawn', he warns the gang one night when they are forcing the boy to go with them again, and in the process, shoos them off. Then gradually the neighborhood and the community start warming up to Walter and we see him sipping beer at a Hmong party. He even becomes good friends with Toad whom he used to hate and finds him a job. Everything is going on well till the gang folks assault Toad again. This time Walter beats one of them up as a warning and makes it clear that he doesn't want them hanging around anywhere near Toad. And that's when all hell breaks loose.
Toad's house is fired upon and his sister is brutally raped and beaten. Walter is shocked and furious and we see him planning the vengeance with Toad. Toad wants to go right-away and shoot the bastards but Walter has other plans. What those plans are, I won't reveal now and believe me, it something that you might not be able to guess till the very last minute. And then it will all fall in place.
Friendship, salvation and the meaning of life and death, all are answered for Walter in one way or the other. Set in Detroit, as can be seen from one of the signboards somewhere in the movie and also made evident by the dead streets, the movie also tries to bring back the lost glory of the Great American Auto Revolution with its focus on the Gran Torino.
Eastwood in snubbed by many in Hollywood as a stone faced actor; and he corks their mouths shut every time he makes a movie. At 78, he is capable of things that I can only hope to do at 60, and his drive as an actor and a director is unmatched. He is, in my opinion, easily one of the living legends of Hollywood. You might not find the movie outstanding, neither did I, but not for a moment will you be let down in this gritty drama of a war veteran trying to retain his self amidst the diversities and perils of the modern world we live in.
I have deliberately omitted key important facts from the movie plot, and as in any good movie, getting to know them won't give it away, but would just make the experience of watching it more interesting for the viewer.
Gran Torino is Clint Eastwood from start to finish and trust me; you don't want to miss it.