Gran Torino DVD Review
SoHood.com Reviewed by: Lily Lee
Movie Rating:  4.0 out of 5
Extras Rating: 5 out of 5

Clint Eastwood proves yet again that he is the best living director west of Martin Scorsese. “Gran Torino,” his latest meditation on violence and America, packs an emotional punch more devastating than a hundred thousand bullets combined.  The movie is about violence, of course. It is about America, of course. It is also about friendship and, unlike Eastwood’s “Unforgiven,” refuses to give in to the temptation, as American films so often do, to come to a climax with a big bad shoot out. The heroism presented here is, dare I say it, intellectual. Beyond myths, beyond the church, beyond the gun.

The Good: Being Asian it’s refreshing to see a mainstream Hollywood movie that has a strong, central story about us. It’s also unique in the fact that it’s not directed by an Asian, but instead by a white American, and not just any white American a big time Hollywood legend in Clint Eastwood. You don’t see a lot of that in Hollywood.

That said, the story of Gran Torino is easily it’s strongest aspect; bitter, racist (only in the words he uses), tough SOB, retired war veteran (or an old, retired Dirty Harry) meets stereotypical, nerdy Asian kid. Weird combination for a movie but it works. Along with that, Eastwood delivers one of his best on screen performances to date and will surely get a nod come Oscar time. He definitely carried the movie since the supporting cast wasn’t very good, which comes to that but the girl who plays the Asian kid sister, however, is fantastic.

The Bad: If the performances by the supporting cast, mainly the young Asian boy, were stronger this would’ve been a better movie in my opinion. Clearly, it was the kid’s first acting role, but his performance really held the movie back, especially during the parts where he and Eastwood share screen time. The young priest in the movie was also pretty weak.

In addition, the writing was hit or miss. Most of the dialogue Eastwood delivers is on point and believable; however, for the supporting cast it gets clunky at times.

Overall, Gran Torino was a good movie but not great. Definitely worth a watch and I’d recommend it to anyone, but I don’t think it will or should win any awards aside for Clint Eastwood’s wonderful performance.