meh

Rating: 1/10 (18 March 2009)

I've scored this movie as a 1 to help remove it from the top 250 as well as decrease its average. This decision is based upon the quality of the movie, which is mediocre at best. If you've seen this movie and enjoyed it, the only way I can offer a bit of enlightenment is to encourage you to listen to any real-life conversation that is taking place between any two people at any time anywhere in the world, and then compare it to the dialogue in Gran Torino. I think you will find in hindsight that word choice, the pacing, and the delivery come off as stilted, over-played, and clichéd in a manner which would make "Crash" blush. As seems to be true of contemporary society, this script is out of touch with its characters' voices and makes up for this absence of authenticity by exaggerating obvious stereotypes, such as the brooding vet, the snarky girl, etc. Clint would do well to relax a bit and let the voices of these characters evolve a bit more, rather than relying on these rather easy character devices.
Additionally--and I'll be brief here, because other users have covered this more thoroughly than I--the mere identification of racism is not in itself a commentary on racism; it is an opportunity to construct a story around racial themes which will illuminate different modes of thinking or behaving. In Gran Torino, Clint's overuse of racial slurs--from beginning to end--left little opportunity for racism to operate as a critical or thoughtful theme. In the end, as in the case of Crash, the racism theme was overplayed--obvious to the point of obnoxiousness, and reflective of an industry whose conception of human interactions is not evidenced by reality.