Lackluster, anticlimax of a movie

Rating: 5/10 (21 February 2009)

Maybe I was a victim of too much build-up.
Since one of Eastwood's early directing efforts, "The Outlaw Josey Wales" is one of my TOP THREE best movies, and with all of the hullabaloo about this film, I was expecting something really great.
What a let down. It isn't that the film was bad. It was just about as average as I can imagine, worth one viewing and maybe another.
I would describe this as just another Eastwood chick flick except that it is too aggressive to be a chick flick. But, the almost total lack of real action misses the mark as a guy movie too. I can't imagine the supposed target audience, unless it is old-school white people wanting to purge themselves of racial guilt by getting past a long laundry list of disparaging terms for Asians.
I REALLY enjoyed all the screen time devoted to the '72 Gran Torino Sport, one of my all time favorite cars. But, I seriously doubt that many viewers care about this particular car.
Most of the "thrilling" spots are all bluff and NON-action anti-climax. Where Josey Wales KILLED for his new friends of another race, and set things right, Walt simply forfeits his worthless, doomed life to entrap the bad guys for the cops. There is not one SINGLE case of clear justice in this whole wussy story. It even ends by surrendering justice to authorities instead of taking the bull by the horns, even by someone said to "finish things". This movie sets a whole new standard for anti-climax.
After the present day "PC" love-fest dies down, "Gran Torino" will never hold up as a classic like "The Outlaw Josey Wales".