Amazing!

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2009)

I hope that in 30 years someone decides to remake Gran Torino. Hopefully it will be a shot-by-shot remake like 1998's Psycho, or maybe someone tries to do a direct homage to it, or maybe a Japanese remake or didn't they make a Turkish version of Star Wars? I really don't care how they remake it. I just want to prove how masterfully Eastwood breathes life into a story that in wrong hands could be a melodramatic mess, or a bad Sitcom.
Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) is a guy missing his decade, he still lives in the home he raised his family in, even though the rest of the neighborhood disappeared years ago. His home is still painted while the homes around him fall apart. The post-war suburban paradise that once was is long gone replaced by gangs, crime, and the Hmong immigrants who have replaced his former white-bread neighbors.
Kowalski has lived a life of hard work and maybe a little regret. He's a decorated Korean War Vet, a husband who's just buried his wife, and a father that has lost touch with his sons. Don't get him started on his bratty Grandkids who want him to die so they get his stuff including a sweet 1972 Gran Torino. Kowalski is a man who poured his heart and soul into a country who doesn't need him anymore and a family that is ready to send him off to Boca to die. Everything changes when he catches his neighbor trying to steal his Gran Torino, and he is introduced into a world that just might let him get the redemption he so desperately needs.
Eastwood has crafted a beautiful film that is honest. With an approach that is so matter of fact and never over sentimental. In the wrong hands this could translate as boring. Yet Eastwood finds a way to make the film real without boring us. It's funny when it needs to be funny, gripping when it needs to grip, and emotional without being overtly emotional. Kowalski exists in the real world, he's abrasive, he's angry, he drinks, smokes, chews tobacco and has lived long enough to not have that politically correct filter that everyone in my generation was issued at birth. He built the world with his bare hands and wishes that people we're polite, kids respected their elders, and is tired of taking crap from everyone. But it's not because he's a monster and Eastwood instills a warmth in Kowalski that drives the film forward.
The supporting cast works because they are real kids. Newcomer Ahney Her deserves notice as Sue, a smart plucky kid that Kowalski aids and Bee Vang hits the right marks as Thao, Sue's brother who Kowalski takes under his wing. Eastwood doesn't ask for gut-wrenching performances from these two kids, only honesty and that's why they work. When the climax hits it's apex Eastwood doesn't ask his cast to react as characters in a movie, but as regular kids. Gran Torino is not what I expected, it's not Dirty Harry meets Grumpy Old Men. It's a powerful film that sneaks up on you and pulls you along. At any moment it could have been shallow, at any moment it could have been melodramatic, and at any moment we could have hated Kowalski. Trust me there is plenty not to like about this guy, but Eastwood shows us his frustrations, and emotions not by acting them out, but by being real and by giving Kowalski a warmth we don't expect.
Gran Torino makes me wish I had treasured the moments I could have had with my Grandfather. It also challenges me to reach out even If I don't want to. Gran Torino is not about telling a fake story about redemption, it's about real people with real problems and how they find within themselves the power to take responsibility for their lives and in that they find the strength to overcome what life has dealt them. Gran Torino will not change the world but it may make you look at your fellow man with a little more compassion.