Less Than the Sum of Its Parts

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2009)

I enjoyed this film. Eastwood is about as snarly as I've ever seen him. He has taken Archie Bunker to the next level. He terrorizes his neighbors, is hateful to his children, and incredibly intolerant of a changing world. With that said, this is a story about redemption. It comes in small increments and the charm is not in what happens eventually, but what happens in each small doses. His slow developing relationship with the Hmong family next door. Because he steps in in a crisis situation, their culture sees him as a hero and sets out to reward him. They bring him endless presents and food. Because he leads such a lonely existence, he is slowly, but surely, pulled in. He keeps a balance of hatred for the punks he sees with a true love for those who have befriended him.l
The whole thing kind of slides off into predictability toward the end, but it's a good story and had to end some way, especially with Kowalski's self realizations and his rendezvous with death. The other thing is just watching a masterful actor take on this role and squeeze every last drop out of it.