Treads the line between morality play and entertainment deftly, but the films portrayal of gangs is strictly 2d

Rating: 7/10 (18 February 2009)

The film gets praise for at least having a social consciousness and deftly weaving that into an emotional, funny, human film. Not many actors could have pulled this off but Clint has no problem carrying the film.
The Kowalski character is a little bit of a cartoon amalgamation of every negative grumpy old bitter white man stereotype. Its hard to believe if he was really that bitter and racist that he wouldn't be anywhere but oiling his rifle behind the locked door of his bedroom in the dark. But the fact that Clint is the force behind this character makes you really not care about this, its Clint freaking Eastwood everyone loves him. So the audience immediately identifies with the snarly, racist character. Perhaps more than they should.
The acting of the Hmong actors is passable, the female lead acts quite well. The male lead's (over)acting will have you wincing at several points in the film. Though its not enough to spoil the movie in any appreachable way.
Its hard to fault the plot it feels authentic, the dialouge is human, and the scenes have an air of reality.
The only thing that bugs me about the film is the 'movie of the week' casualness way that the gang members are defined. The movie's explanation is that they don't feel they fit in with society, are scared of white society, so they become these violent gang members. That maybe true for a certain % of gang members but its certainly not the case for many of them. This explanation seems like its out of the 1950's.
The truth is many of these kids grow up in poverty, violence, abuse. Many of them are emotionally disturbed, reenacting the violence and abuse perpetrated on them as children, many of them are mentally ill living in a waking nightmare. Acting like a wounded animal refusing to show their shattered psyche's covering it with a tough guy exterior. Note that this is not an excuse for violence. However if you want to try and fix the problems you have to understand the root that grows violence. Its not mild social anxiety as Clint Eastwood asserts in this film.
The story in the black and white world Eastwood has created isn't without merit but its severely lacking and in this lack glosses over poverty, abuse, and broken lives.
As entertainment the film is top notch, and maybe its message will reach some kids. I certainly hope so, but its a bit of a joke to view this film as an accurate sociological study of poverty and violence. I hate to say it but its a typical out of touch white guy view of gangs and poverty. Well by God if you just get a job all your problems will go away. It reaches the depth of movie of the week in this area. In missing the mark on this issue so widely the film does lose some of its authenticity. However its difficult to outright condemn the film as it has good intentions and delivers an entertaining experience.