Eastwood's farewell (Gran Torino (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Gran Torino (DVD)
Date:	07/07/09 (3 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic performance from Eastwood, great plot

Disadvantages: Poor Hmong acting

Although still holding the directing reins (notably for his upcoming Nelson Mandela biopic, starring, in a wonderful bit of casting, Morgan Freeman), Gran Torino marked Clint Eastwood's final acting role of his career, an elegiac film that's topped by a superb final performance from the screen legend himself, as well as some thoroughly entertaining thematic material. It's one hell of a way to say goodbye to Clint on screen.

The story follows Walt Kowalski (Eastwood), a recently widowed Korean War veteran who is alienated from his family, who wish to put him in a retirement home, and also angry at the entire world. He is racist, old-fashioned and entirely irritable, even at one point snarling and shouting "Get off my lawn!". On a dare by his cousin for initiation into a gang, Thao, Walt's young Hmong neighbor, tries to steal Walt's prized 1972 Ford Gran Torino (which Walt hasn't driven in years). Walt develops an uneasy relationship with the boy and his family, that is ultimately very touching and packed with emotional intensity.

Gran Torino has earned favourable comparisons to John Wayne's final outing The Shootist, given that both Wayne and Eastwood were quintessential Western icons, and of course, both have given themselves and their fans a real chance to say goodbye. For fans of Eastwood, this is an absolute must-see - it's an incredibly moving film that concludes a career that spanned over 40 years. Eastwood, at 78, still has vitality and all of the smarts he had at the start of his career, and he's obviously learned a few things too. The only real criticism is that some of the supporting cast members, namely those playing the Hmong people, such as Thao, are not professional actors and it really does show through. Still, Eastwood's crackling performance hides this somewhat.

This simple but well-assembled drama is an elegiac celebration of Clint Eastwood's career that still sees him in fighting form, turning in an exceptional performance. Despite its minimal placement in Eastwood's body of work, Gran Torino is a resonant, touching film that benefits greatly from Eastwood's efforts, both as actor and director.

Summary: An elegiac goodbye to one of the cinema's legends