Title: Gran Torino Director: Clint Eastwood Staring: Clint Eastwood Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures Genre(s): Drama Rated:     (For language throughout, and some violence)   Buy From Amazon.com: Gran Torino (Theme Song) [MP3]

CONSUMER ADVICE

Parents, there is a lot of racial slurs as well as bad language. And while not overtly violent, the ending is gruesome none-the-less. Recommended for ages 17 and up.

Clint Eastwood is back once again in “Gran Torino,” a movie that shows that given the right amount of charisma, anyone can make a racist likable. This is the case with Walt Kowalski (Eastwood), a Korean War veteran whose suffered a major blow by the death of his wife. Walt is not a nice man. He hates his kids, he’s racist, and he has no problem cursing out the Catholic priest. When he talks about his wife you get the feeling she was the only thing about his life he loved. Well, that and his 1972 Ford Gran Torino, which he keeps in mint condition and never drives. Then one day a group of Hmong neighbors move in, and Walt is not happy. They are likely skeptical of him, but when he saves them from a gang attack one night they invite him into his life.

Though reluctant at first, Walt takes a liking to his new neighbors, and grows more concerned about the kids welfare in regards to the gang that won’t leave them alone. For Walt this is scary, as he’s trained himself to not care for anyone all his life. By opening up the family he opens up to us, and we see how he really does have a good heart, he’s just never found anything worth caring about. Those who’ve followed Eastwood throughout his career will note some similarities to Dirty Harry from Walt. Both men are racist men and aren’t afraid to use guns. For all the jokes that this is “Dirty Harry 6: Get off My Lawn” though, part of me wonders why Eastwood didn’t simply make this another Dirty Harry film.

It would have been an ideal way to close the franchise, with Harry making some much needed closer after a long, hard life. The advantage to making this it’s own movie is that anyone can watch it and appreciate it for what it is: A well told story. Though very violent, the film comes off as more of a comedy early on, as Walt’s racial slurs are just so honest you can’t help but laugh. The movie does grow more serious though, and the ending is both tragic and clever at the same time. Eastwood has said on and off that he’d retired from acting with “Million Dollar Baby,” which he felt was a good way to go out: On top and in great form.

Something must have gotten to him though. Maybe, looking back, he realized “Million Dollar Baby” wasn’t as great as people said it was, and got to work on “Gran Torino.” Well, I don’t know what the future holds for the 78 year old director, but he can at least rest assured that should this be his last on screen acting part, it’s a great one to end at. Oh, and while I don’t normally do this, for those looking for a secret meaning behind the title I have one suggestion: Don’t. The Gran Torino is simply the classic car, and doesn’t appear to have any deeper meaning behind other then it looks better then all the other cars on the road.