Eastwood trades Dirty Harry’s magnum for Walt Kowalski’s epic old man pants in Gran Torino
Non-Eastwood actors hold Gran Torino back
The would-be heartwarming tale of a cuddly racist coot who has bountiful opportunities to tell people to get out of his damn yard Gran Torino is the most entertaining of Clint Eastwood’s golden-age efforts but not always for reasons that are intentional.
That Eastwood’s grumbling geezer represents what’s likely to be the 79-year-old’s last outing as an actor has prompted a wave of valedictory reviews and widespread expectation for an Oscar nomination. And while Eastwood certainly has a hoot barking epithets at his fellow actors and alternately spoofing and reinforcing his tough-guy image it’s hard not to overlook the cockamamie nature of the whole enterprise. The kind of quintessential star vehicle that ends up flattering only its star Gran Torino is gummed up by the mile-wide sentimental streak in Nick Schenk’s script plotting that would only pass muster in a Death Wish sequel and often hilariously shoddy acting by everyone who isn’t named Clint Eastwood. His famous two-take-maximum directorial style might be fine for Sean Penn but it doesn’t do anyone any favours here.
Come to think of it Eastwood could’ve used some restraint too. Then again if he had toned it down a notch it wouldn’t be so much fun to watch him as Walt Kowalski a sour-tempered widower and Korean War vet who’s none too pleased to see his weathered Detroit neighbourhood get gradually repopulated with Asian immigrants. His relationship with the Hmong family next door has a prickly beginning but gets swiftly chummy… or as chummy as it can get with a guy who tends to apply words like “egg roll” “Charlie Chans” and “fishheads” even to people he likes.
Walt also warms to Thao (Bee Vang) the young man who’s bullied by a gang into trying to steal Walt’s beloved Gran Torino. It turns out Thao only needs the right kind of guidance. When the gang causes more trouble for the family Walt is compelled to open up what may be his final can of whup-ass.
When he isn’t grimacing like he just took a bite of something very unpleasant Eastwood gets to growl lines like “Ever notice how you come across somebody once in awhile you shouldn’t have messed with? That’s me.” Of course Walt’s supposed to be more endearing than repellent — for all its bluster Gran Torino is ultimately too timid to suggest otherwise. And though the tendency toward broad comedy in the first hour feels right on the money the turn toward gaunt-faced drama in the second half only emphasizes the movie’s shortcomings. Pathos was the likely objective but the overcooked climactic scenes and daft-headed coda couldn’t have been funnier even if Eastwood had suddenly replaced all his co-stars with orangutans.
None of which is meant to suggest that Gran Torino ain’t a helluva crowdpleaser. It just ain’t much of a movie.
