Clint still has it going on!

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2012)

"Gran Torino" shows that Clint Eastwood is a real lion in winter,and although some of the performances by the mostly inexperienced cast are a little rough around the edges with Eastwood at the helm, the film still works.
I'll admit I'm a huge Eastwood fan both as an actor and a director and have enjoyed his films since the seventies. This tale of a retired Korean war vet (and bigot) who has to deal with realities of recognizing his responsibilities both as a man and as a soldier has a redemptive quality that isn't seen much in cinema anymore. The film actually reminded me of Kurosawa's Ikiru in some spots. In fact I think a valid argument can be made that Eastwood, although considered more of an heir to the Ford/Hawks school of film making is actually more akin to Kurosawa than any other filmmaker and this film and his earlier World War 2 epics prove it.