'Gran Torino': Eastwood back in action

December 24, 10:10 PMAtlanta Movies ExaminerRyan McNally

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Is tough enough? Starting with the spaghetti western trilogy’s Man With No Name and Dirty Harry’s title character up through Unforgiven’s William Munny and Million Dollar Baby’s Frank Dunn, Clint Eastwood has used his acting and directing career to explore issues of justice, vengeance, violence and masculinity from nearly every angle imaginable. And his best works have been wildly entertaining while provoking thought on the topics at hand.

In Gran Torino, Eastwood stars as Walt Kowalski, a Korean War vet and 50-year Ford employee. As the film begins, he’s mourning his beloved wife’s passing, feeling isolated and angry at the world. He sees his sons as soft in more ways than one, from their midsections to their foreign cars. The local priest? A young’in who doesn’t know a damn thing about life and death beyond the generic clichés he spouts at Walt’s wife funeral. And the neighborhood? According to Walt, steadily going downhill thanks to an influx of Asians, blacks and Hispanics who are discourteous, violent and let their yards go to hell.

When Walt’s not spewing anger and racial epithets, he sits on his porch with his dog and a few cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon to keep him company. And when he’s feeling nostalgic, he spruces up his pride and joy, a 1972 Gran Torino that he helped bring off the assembly line and still keeps in pristine condition.

Walt shows little attention—other than some general disdain—to the Hmong family that moves in next door. That is, until the “man” of the house, a quiet teen named Thao (Bee Vang), tries to steal Walt’s Gran Torino as part of a gang initiation. The attempted theft leads to Walt’s reluctant involvement in his Hmong neighbors’ lives, as Thao’s mother and sister Sue (Ahney Her) insist that Thao make up for his transgression by doing chores for Walt.

It’s no surprise that as Walt gets to know his Hmong neighbors, his intolerance begins to thaw. What is surprising, though, is how Eastwood and first-time screenwriter Nick Schenk manage to make the film work despite a few predictable elements and over-the-top moments. It helps that Schenk takes the film in some unanticipated directions, and having Clint in the lead role—not to mention behind the camera—certainly works in the movie’s favor.

Eastwood rips into the role with glorious abandon, delivering perhaps his funniest performance to date. He clearly relishes the chance to tinker with a persona that recalls numerous characters past, including Josey Wales and Heartbreak Ridge’s Sgt. Highway. But this is no half-assed retread. It’s a demanding role that requires Eastwood to move seamlessly from action to comedy to drama as he cuts to the core of a deeply flawed character. As both actor and director, Eastwood shows impressive ability to navigate the film’s changing tones.

He also draws naturalistic, believable performances from a host of inexperienced and unknown actors, including Vang and Christopher Carley as the young priest Walt loves to hate. As Sue, the girl next door who develops an easy rapport with Walt, Her delivers an appealing, charismatic performance.

When it comes to acting and directing, Eastwood knows that playing it tough means trusting audiences to grapple with the questions his films raise—a point he drives home with a climax that turns in an unexpected but satisfying direction. In the case of Gran Torino, that’s more than tough enough to make the film a worthy entry in Eastwood’s directorial canon.

Grade: A-