Good but I think the Oscar talk is a bit much

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2009)

Walt Kowalski's next door neighbor tries to steal his prize Gran Torino as an initiation for a gang. Walt Catches him and as pay back ends up taking the kid under his wing and teaching him things. However the gangs are still around and won't leave them alone.
Clint Eastwood's second film in 2008 is a good little film about a life, getting older and how the people we "hate" may not be as bad as we thought. I like it, though to be honest I don't quite understand the exceptional raves the film is getting. Well acted I'm not certain that Eastwood really is the right choice for the role of Kowalski, though I'm guessing that with out his starring role the film may not have been made. This is not to say its a bad film, its not, not even remotely, its just that the Oscar talk surrounding it seems to be out of place and due more to the director and star.
The scenes between Walt and his young neighbor are quite good and they more than make up for the scenes between Walt and the young priest which seem to be there to bludgeon deeper meaning into the proceedings. As it its a deceptively simple film, the film becomes something much more complex in its ending which raises some interesting questions about what might have happened earlier (I can not explain that with out revealing the end of the film). I don't think the film needed the priest scenes to be as 'clear" since I think the film was complex enough as it is. (Its one of those films where I got to the end and said, Ah yes that was what he was getting at.
Its a good film. its worth a look, just stay off my lawn.