Bring on 2009!

R, 116 min, 2008

"I blow a hole in your face and then I go in the house... and I sleep like a baby. You can count on that. We used to stack fucks like you five feet high in Korea... use you for sandbags."

Synopsis: Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbour, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino.

Clint Eastwood's underrated drama film marks his return to acting. Initially 4 years ago he announced his retirement, this is set to be his final last role as an actor. This movie puts Clint Eastwood in a position of a film Legend and an idol simple because Clint, at the age of 77 years is still able to direct, produce and stare in a movie and not only do that, but to receive great reviews form the top critics for the significance and greatness of the movie.

Gran Torino is a lot like Dirty Harry only instead of Harry Callahan we have Walt Kowalski as the older, meaner and ultimately harder version of Dirty Harry. The movie itself is about different cultures and the relationships between them as well as the relationship between different family members. Walt Kowalski is the man that hates a lot of things. He hates his family for the way they act towards him: his two sons who can't wait until he dies and leaves all of his property and his large house to them, the way they only talk to him when they want something and not because they care about him and the fact that they see him as a complete and utter disappointment. He hates his daughter for being so ignorant and disrespectful; he hates his older son's wife for trying to put him into the elderly house without his permission. He also hates the foreigners that move to America, especially Hmong-Americans who now took over most of his neighbourhood. He hates them for their weird traditions and the way they always speak in a different language in front of him, he hates them for who they are and for how different they are. He also hates Father Janovich for constantly trying to make him confess because that's what his wife would have liked him to do.

One day he finds a neighbour kid trying to steal his car. The kid escapes Walt but later his family makes him go and work for Walt for the crime that he committed. Soon the kid whose name is Thao and Walt form a good friendship even though both of them don't like to show much of it. Many times during the movie Thao is being confronted and attacked by older boys and Walt always trying to help him out. Both Walt and Thao supposed to hate each other but they become friends and Thao even sees Walt as a father and a person that he can look up to.

The movie very much shows the way the cultures collide with each other, especially now in the 20th century when many people aloud to move to bigger countries such as America in this case. It also gives a reason why some people might be angry at a certain race: because deep inside a person is angry for the crimes that he/she committed against this race. There is a strong language and some violence shown in this movie, but there are similar and perhaps worse things in the real world so it is rightly so presented in the movie.

Most of the cast is Hmong but its Clint who steals the show with his brutal and witty performance. He is harsh and terrifying towards everyone but he treats young teenager Thao as a son that he never had which shows that perhaps the harshest of people can be nice too. If this is the last performance of Clint's career according to him, then it s well worth the watch without a doubt.

The rest of the cast wasn't that spectacular but I don't think they needed to be anyway because the main focus is on Eastwood's character and the rest are just supporting characters. It is also fair to note that Ahney Her who played Thao's sister did a far better job than any other member of the supporting cast. I noticed that there were some missing details such as Thao's family background is not really explained and maybe an extra detail or two about Walt himself but in the end it doesn't change the quality of the film. The score is very haunting and inspiring, which was provided by Clint's older son Kyle Eastwood. It is also very ironic that Clint's younger son plays a minor role in the movie as a coward guy who walks away while his girlfriend gets abused by a couple of street thugs.

If Clint was criticised for being racist in some of his early movies, this time he surrounded himself by the people of different colour skin and proved that it doesn't really matter how you look or of what background you are, it's the way you act towards the other people that really matters.