Gran Torino

"Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have messed with? That's me."

Title: Gran Torino
Year of Release: 2008
Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Drama/Crime/Thriller
Rating: 6.5/10

After the death of his wife a Korean War Veteran gets mixed up in his next-door neighbors problems after one of his neighbors tries and fails to steal his 1972 Gran Torino. He then begins to help teach this boy to be a man, and to grow up.

Throughout this film, it seems as if Clint wants to overcome racism and/or stereotypes but fails miserably. This was obviously from practically the first 10-20 minutes. He establishes the goodies and the baddies pretty quick, full of cliche characters that seem to come from a film set in a high school. The Asian men who are apart of a small gang don't come across at authentic but just feel likes shit-stirring school bullies. Because Walt (Clint's character) is a bit of a racist guy, there seemed to be a push to show development of some sort, or to show how racist he is, and how he can improve or something along those lines, from having all sorts of ethnicities throughout the film, which to me, felt a little to pushy, forced and fake. The stereotypical characters in this film were all a pain in the ass, the "wigger" who quickly backs down, doesn't stand his ground and thinks of himself as a "homey" or something along those lines. Because of the films tone, and ambitions when the African American characters are briefly shown in this film they seem incredibly out of place, seeing as the area Walt is in is apparently full of non-Americans, so his neighbors suggests at least. They also fit a painful stereotype, they bully a girl, and make all sorts of sexual remarks while scaring off her boyfriend, which wouldn't be so much a problem if it made sense and went together well somehow, but it didn't. It would of helped also if the actors were better than they were, those guys were transparent as hell.

The acting from everyone other than Clint was mediocre at best, and trust me, that's being very kind. Bee Vang who plays Thao Vang Lor is a fine example of some of the bad acting in this film, he lacked any real emotion which was required by his character. In some scenes he yells a few things, because he is obviously quite upset, those were probably the some of the most painful to watch scenes of the film, not because it was sad, because it wasn't, Vang's acting brought it down a lot and had me cringing and even looking away from some scenes, it honestly looked as if he had an invisible script in his hand that he was reading from because he felt so robotic, the same goes for Ahney Her, who plays Vang's sister. Clint as usual though, held his own, and delivered a decent performance, not his best, but good enough.

One thing that annoys me a lot in films is when there is a lack of real development, this suffers from that problem. Things just seem to change, as if it's a video game, you do something wrong, your told the correct way to do it, and then you've learned all you need to know, or something along those lines (probably a bad a analogy) . It was very annoying because they would literally say for something to be done, which would usually begin development in that area, but once it was said and out in the open it was settled, and boom, character development aspect completed just like that.

Though I have got these problems, I still did enjoy this film. For those who saw the trailer thinking "Badass Clint's still got it" you won't be let down. Clint is without a doubt proven he has what it takes to kick some ass just like the ol' days. His character is not just "badass", or cool, he is scary. He is a fierce character without a doubt, one that is easily likable and could have easily started a trend of sayings and cult related things if it weren't for the mediocrity that drowns this film.

Simply put, Gran Torino is alright, you will be enjoyed, but not amazed, your jaw will not be in the floor, and you probably won't left feeling like you've seen a masterpiece as you would with Million Dollar Baby or Letters from Iwo Jima. Clint proves he is still one tough son-of-a-bitch, and he makes for one badass character, the whole finger gun thing is pretty cool, I must say. If you plan on seeing this film for multiple layers expected from this, you will probably be let down, but if you expect to simply be entertained and see Clint be kickass, I'm sure you'll at least be entertained.