Friday, February 27, 2009

Gran Torino

"Ever noticed how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have fucked with?"

From the very first withering scowl you know that Clint is about to re-inhabit the character that he does best. Indeed, this movie encapsulates much of what Eastwood is all about: retribution, crankiness, generational drama, jazzy soundtracks...social cleansing with a liberal(ish) twist.

Here he plays Walt Kowalski, a widowed former Detroit auto-worker and Korean war vet, who reflexively refers to his Asian neighbours as 'chinks' and 'slopeheads', but is soon to discover that he has "more in common with these gooks" than with his own "spoiled rotten family".

V doesn't care for his spaghetti westerns much, but is otherwise almost a fan - The Beguiled is one of her favourite movies of all time. She found the final scene here strangely reminiscent of that of Cruel Intentions.

It's a thoroughly enjoyable movie, for its unencrusted approach to its subject and for the 2 or 3 instances of set-piece Clint that it serves up.

Grade: A-

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