TheGodfather
Posts: 5125
Joined: 21/10/2005 From: Sin City
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Saw it today, here`s my review: Gran Torino Not a lot of directors release 2 fims within 6 months of each other, and if they do then not often are they as great as the films that the 79 year old living legend Clint Eastwood gives us. Did we got Changeling a few months back, now we get his next gem: Gran Torino. The story centers around the retired Walt Kowalski (played by Eastwood himself), a bittered man who`s scarred by everything he had witnessed in his lifetime. He just lost his wife and he tries to make the best of it now, living in a neighbourhood mostly populated with Korean people, the people he hates the most. When he, in the middle of the night, saves the boy from next door from a gang, he suddenly is the neighbourhood hero. A hero for the people so wants to have nothing to do with... As was the case with Changeling, what we see here again isn`t too visually innovative. But it`s so well made. The story is great and touching. Eastwood turns Kowalski into a beautiful man, one who really saw a lot of the world and saw a lot happened to him and the people around him. He wants to enjoy the peace of his retirement, he complains to everyone. Nowhere though, this is over the top or annoying. The transformation that he goes through is excellently portrayed, at one point you can even see him enjoying himself. Something you really wouldn`t have thought at the beginning of the film. Eastwood said that this was going to be his last part as an actor. You can look at his character here as a kind of summary of a few of his previous performances that went into retirement. You can really see "Dirty" Harry Callahan living in one of those typical American suburbs, trying to enjoy the time he has still left on this planet. It`s great to see how Eastwood made a film that at first sight looks so simpel and predictable and yet is so impressive. With Gran Torino, the living legend delivers once again a brilliant film. Hopefully for us, not his last. 9,0/10
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Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What? Brett: What? Jules: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO-YOU-SPEAK-IT?
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