A thoroughbred shows hip chops

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2009)

Clint Eastwood is, of course, the Gran Torino - the 1972 classic that just gets better with age. In 1972 Eastwood was the young blood with the mostest - the Man's man - drifting and shooting his way to Megastardom - here he is again giving a masterclass in what a small film can achieve, and still teaching his message of male values.
If Steve McQueen had lived you would had to have given him this role - he would have been perfection - but here Eastwood has a magnificent growl as the impossibly old and just too red blooded Polack.(His term) Gran Torino is a mixture of current realism, some very good comedy, and 70s hard-edge neighborhood films that juxtapose well. You can see many levels and metaphors here, but in the end it's just the story-telling shines through.
It would have been a really interesting (But impossible?) film to make with a Muslim neighborhood, but hey, I guess we'll have to wait another 30 years until we're all ready for that one! Enjoyable on many levels - but most of all for the balls out performance by Eastwood who is tougher and yet more together than all the action heroes half his age.
Gran Torino is not Die Hard or Charles Bronson as Paul Keirsey in Death Wish - this is a drama film with action, not an action film with drama - there is some real acting chops here and a great dose of real humour, particularly from the young Asian cast.
Of course, this film is just part of a growing trend towards the graying of Hollywood - but it truly is a cross-generational film about the values that mainstream America is losing - and an interesting film about bridging both the generational and the racial divides.