A real shocker

Rating: 4/10 (6 March 2009)

This film could have been fantastic, yet in my opinion it ended up as a complete joke. The plot was actually the best thing about this movie, however what could have been a great and inspirational story was ruined by shocking dialogue, horrendous acting (both by the often reliable Clint and the younger stars of the film), and some of the most twee and obvious motifs i have ever seen, take the way Clint falls in the Jesus position in the major last scene as an example of this.
I found myself sitting in the cinema and laughing out loud at how ridiculous some of the dialogue was, the blatant overuse of derogatory terms for Asian people was unbelievable. Don't get me wrong, i understand the need to portray the war vet Walt as a man who has some serious issues with his past and the way his neighbourhood has been over-run by south-east Asian families, however the never-ending stream of abuse got old after around twenty minutes of watching.
Walts character was so overplayed by Eastwood, i honestly thought i was sitting in a slap-stick comedy and had somehow missed that fact in the trailers and marketing for the film. The two back-to-back scenes two thirds of the way through the film firstly the one in which Walt goes to the construction site to sort out a job for "Slug" followed by the visit to the barbers shop where Walt attempts to teach him how to "talk like a man" have got to be two of the worst scenes i have ever sat through, and again i found myself laughing out loud at how ridiculous the whole thing was. Even down to the fact that Walts young mentor, when being burned on the face with a cigarette, screams as though he's been shot, it was just so over the top.
As i left the cinema, rushing to get out as the first credits rolled up, as i felt i could no longer contain myself to be serious and suitably moved, i heard a man say, "oh my god, that has got to be one of the best films i have ever seen". Now perhaps i'm missing something here, but i'm pretty positive that the best part about Gran Torino is the Gran Torino.