A heartwarming story to tell

Rating: 9/10 (22 January 2019)

This old school, slow-burning drama manages to spin a delicate, quiet, and respectable yarn for its first two-thirds, offering up a slew of complicated characters, solid dramatic intrigue, and several healthy doses of irreverent humor in the process. But what first starts out as a seemingly basic, "going-of-age" mood piece eventually twists beautifully into a searing and poignant ethical study of redemption, sacrifice, and simply doing the right thing. In fact, get this - I actually had the unfortunate pleasure of having this movie's ending spoiled for me before finally seeing it. But, sure enough, even though I knew full well how things were going to come to a close, "Gran Torino's" emotional climax still got me.