Eastwood delivers another cracker

Rating: 9/10 (4 April 2009)

Clint Eastwood just gets more and more extraordinary. There's absolutely no stopping him. Almost eighty, Eastwood is still producing magnificent films as a director, but now has decided to retire from acting and remain firmly behind the camera. However, his final film performance is a fine one to go out on, coming as an echo of one of his most iconic film roles, "Dirty" Harry Callaghan.
In "Gran Torino", Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a widower and veteran of Korea who has nothing much left to live for. With his wife dead, Kowalski's terrible, selfish family are alienated from him and Kowalski is apparently bitter and stuck very firmly in the past. He constantly yearns for years gone by when his neighbourhood was not filled with Asians, who he names in numerous fruity terms. He is haunted by his years in service (when asked "What's it like to kill a man?", he replies "You don't want to know") and is utterly isolated. And, in his garage, his classic '72 Gran Torino, still in mint condition, is his pride and joy, barely touched since the day it was made, a symbol of Walt's stubborn reluctance to move on from the past.
With no-one left to care for except his dog, for a while this film could feel like a fairly simple buddy-movie, as Walt begins to bond with his young neighbour. However, seething underneath is the plot focussing on ethnic gangs in down town Detroit and an absolute tour-de-force from Eastwood. There is no question that this film is about Walt Kowalski, and Eastwood is the absolutely ideal man to play this role. And, he nails it. His performance is gripping and assured. At points, this film is played for a bit of comedy and Eastwood manages to control himself within this, never over doing it whilst he growls through some moments. Kowalski is not "Dirty Harry – OAP", but Eastwood does inject him with some Callaghan-esquire threat. The line "Get off my lawn", delivered in a gruff growl, sticks in the mind.
As a director, Eastwood continues to impress with this film. Away from the period detail of his previous project, "Changeling", Eastwood employs a far more subtle visual style, which becomes particularly apparent at the climax of the film. He also manages to control the film's changes of pace, and genre, masterfully, moving effortlessly from drama to comedy to thriller. The result is an absolutely gripping film.
It seems a little churlish to mention the few weaknesses, but, whilst this is a thumpingly-good film, at its heart is a relationship between Kowalski and the young neighbour, Thao, who is played by film Bee Vang. Going up against Eastwood is tough, but Vang struggles and, towards the end, this becomes a small distraction. But, it is churlish to pick on this when you are faced with such a tight and entertaining piece of film-making with a powerful message of redemption. This is yet another film to add to Eastwood's exceptional work of the last few years.
The idea that this is Eastwood's last performance is a sad one, not just because it marks the end of an iconic screen career but because, with this and "Million Dollar Baby" not so long ago, he appears to be doing some of his best acting work at the very end of his career. However, he has said that he's retired before and yet he has been tempted back. It might not be too much to hope that it happens again.