Reviews & Previews - Gran Torino

Posted on Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 05:00 PM

Gran Torino

By: S. Tran

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her
Directed By: Clint Eastwood
Running Time: 116 minutes
Rated: R

Artful Racism?

Man, critics love the hell out of this film. Going into the screening I thought this was supposed to be one of the best films of the year. My expectations may have been part of the problem because it was not even close to being as good as I expected.

Gran Torino isn't a bad film, it just can't live up to its hype partly due to the flat story and characters and partly due to the uneven acting. In the film Eastwood plays Walt, an old, angry, racist war vet who lives in a neighborhood where many of his neighbors are Hmong people from Asia. Next door to him lives a young boy named Thao (Vang) and his older sister Sue (Her).

Walt just wants everyone to mind their own business and leave him alone but he becomes involved in their lives when a gang starts harassing Thao and Sue. As he gets to know them Walt of course begins to soften up and his neighbors become a surrogate family who show him more compassion than his own spoiled children and grandchildren.

Eastwood is a veteran actor and it shows in this film. Walt is a likable character despite the racist venom that spews from his mouth. He has perfected playing the angry senior citizen over his last few films and his character provides for some good laughs. Where the acting breaks down though is with everyone else in the film.

Both Vang and Her give it a good try but each are made to look completely amateurish next to Eastwood. Part of this is due to his ability but a lot of it has to do with the fact that neither of them are very good actors. Its hard to believe they are the best that Eastwood could find for these roles and their bad acting really disrupts the film.

Beyond the acting there isn't a lot of depth in the characters. Walt's own children and grandchildren are superficial and uncaring. The Hmong people are all nice and family oriented. The gang seem like they were recruited from a bad rap video. Everyone plays a stereotype and we never see any other side to them with the exception of Walt who goes from an unapologetic racist to someone slightly less racist and a little more apologetic.

The film tries to find some depth with some half hearted discussions about life and death, but at the end of the day the story and acting just can't carry that message very far. You can enjoy this film for Eastwood's fine acting and some funny moments, but if we are to be real this film is getting a lot of undeserved attention.

3 out of 5 stars.