A lot of us who have grown up in the Midwest have probably known someone like Walt Kowalski, the gruff protagonist of Gran Torino. He was the blue-collar retiree who lived down the street; the one who was always working in his garage and had a tendency to drink too many beers at the summer block party. He was the guy your parents avoided after he told one too many racist jokes while holding court on his front porch. Eastwood plays Walt with a kind of grumpy xenophobia that, the audience is supposed to surmise, obscures Walt’s true decency and kind-heartedness.
The movie has been garnering a lot of positive buzz and it is by no means terrible. But after the credits began to roll, I wondered what the fuss was about. The movie unfolds with all the subtlety of an after-school special. Meet old racist white guy. See white guy bitch about his Hmong neighbors. See white guy inadvertently come to the rescue of his neighbors. See white guy start to turn into an old softie who mentors the nerdy Hmong kid in the ways of home maintenance. But then the movie swings dramatically in tone without much of a set-up. Also hampering matters is the flat delivery of most of Eastwood’s co-stars. After eliciting some truly marvelous performances in Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby, I’m not sure why he was content with such amateurish performances here.
I was hoping for more, especially considering that the script was written by someone who used to call Minnesota home. I’m hoping that Clint has one more great movie in him because it would be a shame if Gran Torino became his coda.
