Deftly plotted narrative trumps improbable tale of Vigilante's change of heart

Rating: 7/10 (24 February 2009)

When we first meet Walt Kowalski, the bigoted but lovable curmudgeon played by Clint Eastwood, he's coping with the loss of his wife of many years. During the funeral and reception at the house afterward, his sons are shown having a hard time coping with their father who doesn't have a good word to say about anybody. But soon it's clear that the film's scenarists are setting us up to view Walt as misanthropic but at the same a far better man than his offspring who are busy with their own lives and don't have their father's best interests at heart. Worse is the granddaughter, a narcissistic teenager who shows little sensitivity during a tragic time of grief (the portrait of the detached granddaughter, completely one-dimensional, is designed to contrast with the much more real and sensitive Sue, the young Hmong woman, that Walt is soon to befriend).
Sue, played by the excellent Ahney Her, is probably the most engaging character in the film. She's the one who gets Walt to open up as she brings him over to meet her family and introduce him to the Hmong culture. Not only did I enjoy the banter between the two characters but had the distinct impression that Ms. Her was not actingthat she was simply playing herself! Every time Walt would make an ignorant, bigoted remark, she wouldn't get angry but simply contradict him and explain why he was wrong. He opens up to her precisely because of her patience and insight into both her own people and the outside American culture. She's an all-knowing guide and in a sense hearkens back to the 'wisdom' character in the Bible and other ancient writings.
To the screenwriters' credit, gang culture is not sanitized. Not only are members of the Hmong gang shown to be what they are (vicious and aimless young people who want to make everybody else's lives miserable) but the black gang members are also shown to be equally vicious. And even better, most of the Gran Torino story is not about the gang members but the relationship between Walt and the two young Hmong people who help him to find some purpose in his life.
As the Gran Torino story unfolds, certain things don't ring true. One thing that bothered me quite a bit was Walt's complete ignorance of who the Hmong people were. Here's a guy who presumably has been living in this neighborhood for many years, all his neighbors are Hmong people, and it's up to Sue to explain to him where the Hmong came from. Despite his prejudices, Walt is not a stupid person. He would have known the difference between the Hmong and say the Vietnamese people simply from his conversations with his friends in the neighborhood (such as his friend the barber, the construction foreman or any of his buddies at the various bars he frequents).
Gran Torino is full of 'trash talk' mainly emanating from Walt's foul mouth. Walt and his barber friend trade occasionally amusing insults about each other's ethnic identity. Whether such conversations actually take place in real life is another issue (how a barber would actually like a customer who never tips him seems completely far-fetched).
Most of the middle of Gran Torino concerns Walt's quest to turn Thao, Sue's brother, into a 'real man'. Thao doesn't have much of a personality like his sister and his gradual transformation from a shy, detached kid into someone who's hardworking and responsible seemed a bit too predictable. It's hard to believe that Thao is such a complete wuss that the macho pep talk from Walt's construction foreman friend will so easily turn him around.
The film's climax is the least believable of all the scenes. We're asked first to believe that Walt would jeopardize Thao and Sue's safety by beating up one of the gang members. After all, he's the guy who later locks Thao in the basement after preventing him from impulsively taking revenge on the gang members. But earlier, Walt is the one who commits the impulsive act which leads to Sue being raped.
Now he must undo his own mistake. In a nice twist, instead of turning Gran Torino into a typical revenge fantasy, Eastwood's Kowalski offers himself up as a sacrifice in order to prevent further violence. Perhaps 'Dirty Harry' is maturing in his old age. Furthermore, Clint seems to be softening slightly toward the Catholic church (here he's finally willing to go to confession in contrast to his diatribe against the church's stance against mercy killings which was prominent in Eastwood's earlier film, 'Million Dollar Baby').
Nonetheless, the filmmaker's desire to give the audience a bittersweet but upbeat ending by suggesting that the gang members will end up being prosecuted rings false. Why would the neighbors suddenly be willing to testify against the gang members when it's established early on that everyone in the neighborhood is petrified of gang retaliation? No, in real life, odds are that the witnesses wouldn't have come forward to testify against the gang members despite Walt's heroic reputation in the neighborhood.
Gran Torino is not always honest and goes out of its way to manipulate your emotions. Nonetheless, it's deftly plotted and will keep your attention throughout. That's no small feat. For all its flaws, it's definitely worth seeing.