I can already say Gran Torino will go down in my book as one of the greatest films I've seen this year

Rating: 10/10 (11 January 2009)

I'm going to admit it, I really wasn't expecting much from this movie. In fact, the only reason I wanted to see this it was that it starred my all time favorite bad ass actor, Clint. Once the movie was over, my only reaction was "Wow!". One of the main reasons why I give Gran Torino such praise is that it such a mixed bag. The humor was great because of it's political incorrectness - I swear to you right now that every single racial slur ever uttered in the history of the English language is spoken in this film. While it might sound very uncouth and tasteless, it's done in such a way where it becomes an important element to the film and the characters in it. For example, throughout the film Clint Eastwood's character is constantly trying to teach Thao, the kid he takes under his wing, how to become a man, and one way he teaches this is by taking him to a barbershop where him (Thao) and the barber are throwing racial names back and forth to each other. That particular lesson was about how to mingle with the guys and to test how far he could put the bond of friendship to the test. Another important element was how Eastwood's character would talk to the Hmong's. At first he refers to them as "zipper heads" and "slopes". But as he learns about their culture, he starts to treat them with respect. The symbolism in Gran Torino was absolutely fantastic as well. A good example of this are the two objects that are of great importance to Kowalski: His car and his gun. He values his car because it represents how hard he worked at a Ford factory, it was the one thing in his life that was pure and good. The gun represents the horrors of war that he himself has committed, it symbolizes his shame and regret, and feels it's baggage he has to carry for the rest of his life. I guess you could say that main theme of this film is the concept of life and death. The acting was great on everyone's part, especially on Eastwood's part. I was surprised to learn that the majority of the cast had little to no acting experience. Everyone managed to handle themselves very well next to the head honcho.
My closing statement: To simply put it, I was blown away. Period. I award this film a 10/10. The one bad thing I would have to say about Gran Torino is that it was a wee bit predictable. But then again, this is a Clint Eastwood movie, and he was never much for surprise - so I'll let that one slide. Thank you Eastwood for another spectacular film.