An awful letdown.

Rating: 1/10 (10 February 2009)

"Gran Torino" was a big letdown. I have loved every Eastwood movie, even "The Bridges of Madison County". This made "Gran Torino" an even bigger disappointment to me.
The storyline (as told on Wikipedia) is quite riveting. The direction is adequate, if a bit sporadic. But the characters, the dialogue, the unfolding of the plot, the abysmal (yes, abysmal) acting - it wrecked the film. I have never heard more wooden dialogue than what was coming from Sue. I have never seen a more pathetic, forced hissy fit than from Tao. And in this film, Clint Eastwood's "soft growl" is nothing short of laughable.
Eastwood should stop trying to make 2 films in one year. "Changeling" is incredible; "Gran Torino" is weak. "Letters to Iwo Jima" was incredible; "Flags of our Fathers" was weak.
How this film became so highly rated is beyond me. Perhaps the heroic ending tricked people into forgetting how awful it had all been up until then?