Intelligent writing, great acting, interesting story

Rating: 9/10 (11 April 2009)

From the Summary above you can already see this movie packs a 1-2-3 punch.
I have a new perspective on movies ever since I moved to Europe (Czech Republic) two years ago. You would think that foreigners would mainly like action movies such as The Fast And The Furious, but the truth is, they are quite a bit more sophisticated.
The American movies shown here in Prague are usually subtitled, not dubbed. As I'm listening to the dialogue, I'm also reading the Czech subtitles, and in this case, they were done quite well, which is surprising considering that there is A LOT of very hard-core slang used in the movie. None of it was lost on the audience. They were laughing unselfconsciously. They enjoyed the movie every bit as much as I did.
The premise of the movie is very promising, and it certainly delivers on those promises: Clint Eastwood portrays a retired auto worker, a hard-talking, hard drinking guy who has just lost his wife. His new neighbors are Asian, and as an old-school man from the Midwest, he is not at all happy at the prospect of the neighborhood changing ethnically. But circumstances beyond his control induce him to change his perspective somewhat and his relationship with the new neighbors.
You can guess a little what happens with the clash of cultures, but the more details I give you the less surprising the movie will be, so let's just leave the plot line with the simple sketch I've outlined above. What's important is that the movie is a combination of humor, drama, pathos, and a bit of tension thrown into the mix.
No one lasts forever, and when Clint Eastwood someday passes away (we hope that occurs at some distant time in the future), this film will take its place as one of the big highlights of his career. I just came back from seeing the movie, and if someone asked me to see it again tomorrow, I'd accept the invitation immediately. Gran Torino is one of those rare films that is completely satisfying and makes you feel like the $10 you spent for a ticket was really a bargain.