Great whether in front or behind the camera.

Rating: 8/10 (15 December 2008)

Hot on the heels of 'Changeling' Eastwood is back and as well as directing he is back in front of the camera. He plays Walt Kowalski a recently widowed ex-Vietnam veteran who harbours slight racism and bitterness which isn't helped by the changing world he now lives in alone. He has relatives but they only seem to call when they want something and his grandkids have already started deciding what they will have of his when he dies. He has a few mates he drinks with in the pub but other than that his neighbourhood is being overrun by immigrants and gang warfare. Walt's next door neighbours are a Hmong family with no father figure and after the son tries to steal his prize car, the 'Grand Torino' of the title, Walt decides to try and reform the boy and hopefully as time passes learn about their culture and change his mind before he dies. As with all Eastwood films where you begin isn't where you will end up and the story takes many turns that will test all of your emotions, I laughed, I cried and I got angry it's a real roller-coaster. But its Clint's aged 'Dirty Harry' in Walt that steals the show and anytime he is on screen he is mesmerising which means that the supporting cast members are barely noticeable. At times it plays like Lynch's 'Straight Story' with sprinkles of 'Taxi Driver' but the real beauty is in the old fashioned storytelling, something that Clint is a dab hand at, mix that with the modern day context and you have a gripping and enthralling film. It's no wonder that so many 'best of year' lists contain this film, they should, it is that good and it proves that even at 78 Eastwood is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to movies in front or behind the camera or in the case of 'Grand Torino' both.