Gran Torino

Synopsis

Gran Torino is about a retired Korean war veteran named Walt Kolwalski (Clint Eastwood) who takes matters into his own hands to address the gang violence in his neighborhood. While Walt faces the gangs, he is also forced by his Asian neighbors to face his prejudices. Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this drama that came out in limited release December 12, 2008 and wide release January 9, 2009.

Review

I can see why Clint Eastwood is getting so much praise and acclaim for his acting in this film. He’s a pro. He’s been in the game a very long time and he did an outstanding job. I’m sure it also helped that a cast of first time actors—with little or no experience—surrounded him. This truly made him seem even better, although I feel he often sounded more like he was constipated.

“Get off my lawn.”

“Uuuhhnn.”

Gran Torino is very contrived. There is barely any guesswork or surprise, especially if you’ve seen a lot of movies. The entire cast seemed a bit awkward to me, like a few molecules or two were missing for the right chemical compound that just gives a movie the right chemical reaction. Shoot, in the simplest terms, the characters lacked any chemistry.

Before I get to far in my critique, let me at least tell you a little bit about the story. Gran is about Walt Kowalski, a rigid ornery Korean War veteran, recently widowed, who just cannot get with the changing world. Walt is a down-right bigot who doesn’t have any qualms about name-calling—with his friends or even in the face of strangers. Even his own family can barely stomach him.

Walt is now an old, wrinkly retired autoworker who enjoys doing home repairs and drinking beer. However, he regards with great contempt his neighbors who are Southeast Asian “Hmong” immigrants and the gangbangers who seem to be on every street corner. Why his neighborhood? The only thing Walt seems to love is his dog Daisy and his 1972 Gran Torino.

When Walt’s very timid teenaged neighbor Thao (Bee Vang) is pressured by a Hmong gang into trying to steal the Gran Torino, Walt gets out his old M-1 rile and prepares for war. When the gang returns to the neighborhood and tries to jack Thao, Walt stops the fight and for some reason becomes a hero to the neighborhood. Not that he wants to be—but he is now and that forces him to deal with a group of people he has no interest in breaking bread with.

Perhaps I get easily offended, but I certainly was exhausted after hearing Walt refer to the Hmong as “zipperheads”, “zips”, “swamp rats”, “gooks”, “fish heads”, “eggrolls”, and a reprehensible list of more names. I’ve never seen a movie where they try to find every possible racial slur, and allow a character the chance to use each and every one. Throughout the course of the movie, as Walt engages his Asian neighbors, and comes to “like” them, he cannot seem to refrain from calling everyone a random racial slur. They just come out as if he was saying, “dude”.

Oh, I’m not done.

He was an equally opportunity bigot. He throws in “spook”, “mick”, “ofay”, “dago” and a few more. It was ridiculous! His foul mouth continued throughout the entire film, making it difficult to believe a guy with this many slurs on the tip of his toungue could possibly be the hero.

For a movie that was meant to expose the world to the Hmong, this one sure did paint a bad first imporession. The movie made a point of showing Walt’s property immaculate and all of his neighbors’ homes all shabby with paint chipped off the siding and the lawns unkempt. So are we to assume the Hmong are not people you want as neighbors? Shoot, I want my property value to rise, ya’ll, and this flick makes you think a few Hmongs moving in would require a community meeting. Rediculous to stress this.

Sure, the young Asian actress, Ahney Her plays Sue, Thao’s open-minded sister that explained the history of the Hmong and the culture to Walt in a positive light (like an after school special). However, I really have to ask—did it cancel out all the stereotypes portrayed? Plus, I don’t think I’d have it in me to be called several horrible names and teach some old man who’s stuck in his ways. School would not be in session. Nonetheless, as Sue says, “You’re a hero to the community.” Mmm hmmm, the man that called you dragon lady and gook as if it were your proper name. Ridiculuos.

Was the movie to be a drama? Was it to be a comedy? I ask because people in my audience sure were laughing A LOT every time Walt used racial slurs. MMMM. Makes me wonder if these people who were laughing are the same people telling jokes to only their friends who look just like them? Are these the people who tell and snicker at jokes about other races and nationalities, but when they are in the presence of one…it’s more like, “Oh hello. How are you? Are you enjoying the weather?” Mmmm hmmm. How about I’ll give my fellow movie goers the benefit and say that they were laughing out of shock because of what a huge bigot Walt was.

You decide if you want to watch this movie. It’s not bad, but it’s not going to give you anything worth telling a friend on Monday—except the surprisingly large number of racial slurs for Asians alone.

My Rating ~ 3 Reels

Audience Rating (What's Yours?)