Not Bad

Rating: 8/10 (12 December 2010)

To this day I can remember only one movie quote from my childhood- "Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?" (Siegel, 1971). This quote from Dirty Harry is probably one of my fondest memories of a Clint Eastwood film. Fortunately, as the years have gone by Eastwood has delivered several more memorable characters in film as an actor, producer and director. In fact in several of his films within the last decade and a half Eastwood has functioned as all three in the film. In his 2008 film Gran Torino, Eastwood managed to do what he has always done in film, grab the audience, sit them in their seat and ask them "Do you feel lucky?" And after watching Gran Torino, I think the audience can answer with a resounding "HECK YA". Gran Torino is a skillfully crafted story on film of a man trying to manage reconciliation with himself for things he has done in the past. The story also shows the audience the challenges of change in both personal internal and external environments. Clint Eastwood plays the films main character Walt Kowalski the man trying to deal with inner turmoil and challenges. The film begins with Kowalski having to lay his wife to rest. It is in these opening scenes that the audience gets a brief understanding of the challenges Kowalski faces as he growls quietly to himself while watching his spoiled grandkids during his wife's service. The Kowalski growl becomes an iconic staple in the film. There are several intricacies in the film that wonderfully develop the complexity of Kowalski and outline the film's substantial theme of lost innocence. The story in the film forces Kowalski to understand his that his tough love and course nature has distanced his family and many of those around him. Reluctantly, Kowalski befriend his neighbor Tao, a young Hmong teenager trying to resist the influence and pressure from local gang members. This friendship is brought together when Tao attempts to steal Kowalski's most prized possession, a cherry 1972 Gran Torino. A situation by which Kowalski quickly understand that Tao is need of a role model and teaches the boy how to be a man. In the end Kowalski offers the ultimate of sacrifices to protect his friend and find closure with his own demons. Eastwood never ceases to entertain and this film is another example of his fine work. The most memorable component of the film is the dialog. Eastwood truly captures the essence of an era past by which the words politically correctness was never considered. Throughout the film as one would expect Eastwood delivers his character with depth and conviction. The cinematography and editing of the film are masterfully constructed to show the intensity of the film's story. There are several elements of symbolism shown in the film adds even greater depth or layers that draws the audience to the edge of their seats with interest and investment into the film. It is the culmination of all these components of the film that assemble to form a tightly composed film that is typical of Eastwood's work and foster significant support to the film's challenging theme of the reconciliation of ones lost innocence.