Movies / Movie Reviews

Gran Torino

By Nathan Schwartz
January 28, 2009 - 15:00

Executive Producers: Jenette Kahn, Adam Richman, Tim Moore
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

I was rather taken aback by Gran Torino . I was under the impression that this film would be an extremely intense drama. In fact, I was hoping to be thrown on a dramatic thrill ride leaving me fastened to my seat straight through to the end credits in a state of emotional paralysis. Even the preview and poster made the film out to be a serious drama. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I was deceived! The story was interesting and the cinematography was great, but the execution of the story was, in a word, silly. How am I supposed to take a movie seriously when it is so asinine? As well, the acting, for the most part, left much to be desired.

The story opens at the funeral of Walt Kowalski’s (Eastwood) wife. Walt is a Vietnam veteran who has become quite the stereotypical old, angry and racist patriot. At the funeral we are shown his family’s dysfunction. His sons do not seem to be upset by the death of their mother, and his grandkids are little rebels with low moral values. Following the funeral, the plot branches out into three different stories. The first involves the priest, Father Janovich (Carley), and his quest, upon request of Walt’s deceased wife, to get Walt to attend confession. The other stories revolve around Walt's Asian neighbors and the gang problems in the neighborhood. The Asian boy living next door, Thao (Vang), is having a hard time with his cousin, who is a member of a gang. Walt overcomes, to a certain extent, his racism, and becomes a small time vigilante as well as a role model for Thao and his sister Sue (Her). I would liken him to an older, watered down mix of The Punisher and The Incredible Hulk, but instead of turning green, his face becomes slightly more contorted when he gets angry.



Although the story seems nice, it was not implemented well. The plot kept on switching gears between stories. One story would be happening while the others sat on the side without being addressed. Then another would pop in and replace the other, pushing the former out of the picture, only for that replaced story to re-spawn half an hour or so later. For example, the priest's story sits on the sidelines for roughly fifty percent of the film, only to show its head somewhere near the end. As well, Walt goes back and forth between vigilante and role model multiple times. It felt as though every time he changed he would forget about the other personality entirely. It made the movie seem rather incomplete. Especially seeing as how the story of Walt’s family was totally neglected. Walt, at a certain point, reveals the issues with his family and how he regrets not being such a great father, but that is all. He does not seem to put much effort into mending the relationships. There was just so much going on that all the stories seemed to jumble together to create a cluster of loose ends. Although most stories were closed, it just appeared as though they were not closed entirely, like something was left without being attended to.



Clint Eastwood pulled off a respectable performance. His hyperbolic, angry facade was quite powerful. However, there were moments where his semblance took a silly, comedic turn, which I did not enjoy. The other characters were either bad or, at best, tolerable and Bee Vang, the shy Asian boy, was adequate for the most part. There were points though, where he and the other actors dipped into silly clichés and platitudes, which was annoying. Many of the conversations between Eastwood and Vang seemed as though the writers closed their eyes and randomly picked lines from a list of overused dialogue. Conversations with themes such as, smoking is bad for you, or, that girl is too good for me. There were entire cliché scenes as well. For example, there was a scene with the ever-used cup falling in slow motion. Seeing as how this is the umpteenth time I have seen this chestnut, it did not have the emotional effect they were shooting for. On top of that, it just appeared to be forced as though Clint felt it important to use the cliché.

On the plus side, the cinematography was absolutely amazing. The color scheme of the film seamlessly matched the setting and ambiance. This, combined with the high quality camera usage, would have greatly complemented a drama. Although, this acted more as a savior for this movie, given the fact that this film was not a drama in its entirety. I would not even know how to classify this film. On the one hand, it contains all the workings of a great drama, but on the other hand, the culmination of the parts put a huge comedic twist on the film. This suffocated the drama to a mere undertone, only letting it pop in every now and then to remind the audience that we were still watching a so-called “drama”.



When I say the film was silly, I mean it had wacky lines and interactions. I found myself laughing way too much for a drama. For example, there was a scene where Clint, looking over at his Asian neighbor, spits on his porch as a sign of resentment. The old Asian lady mimics his action, but instead of spit protruding from her mouth, this strange brown spew poured out as though she was spitting up an entire cup of coffee. This was hilarious, but extremely silly. It made no sense, and had no place even as comic relief, for comic relief in a film like this should be at least somewhat sensible. As well, there was a montage. A montage does not belong in a somber drama. It knocked my respect for this movie down a few notches further.



I understand clearly what this movie was trying to accomplish, but I just felt as though Eastwood could have done a better job at executing the story. It had a lot of potential but failed on delivery, except for cinematography that is. It was not terrible, it just could have been so much better if it took itself more seriously.

Rating: 6 / 10

Last Updated: November 29, 2025 - 16:51