Eastwood still a cool contender
Gran Torino
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Brian Haley, Geraldine Hughes, Dreama Walker, Brian Howe.
Rating: (R16)
To be considered cool, or sub-zero as Jeremy Clarkson puts it, is a pretty exclusive club; one that Clint Eastwood has a life membership for.
Pushing 80, Eastwood might be expected to kick back, but no, Gran Torino is hardly a tawdry swansong, or The Bucket List for that matter. All bulging biceps and chiselled gruffness, Eastwood is Walt Kowalski, part John Wayne, Charlton Heston and his own Dirty Harry.
Entirely repulsive but somewhat likeable at the same time, Walt curses the rapidly expanding population of Hmong, or as he calls them, swamp-rats, in his Detroit neighbourhood.
With an ideology rooted in '50s values, excessive patriotism and belted-high Sta-Prest trousers, Walt numbs his painful past with beer, cigarettes and fixing things.
When his neighbour Thao (Bee Vang) attempts to steal his prized '70s muscle car, Walt becomes embroiled in the politics of contemporary America.
The plot is always angling towards Walt's enlightenment, but strangely for an American film, things aren't always that straightforward.
The large cast of Hmong amateurs struggle with script subtleties, and the Asian caricatures are overblown, but Gran Torino ultimately comes from a good place.
Eastwood gives a career-defining performance; hopefully, he isn't off to a condo in Florida just yet.
Best thing: one reverse shot staring down the barrel at a 79-year-old Dirty Harry. When Eastwood mutters through clenched teeth: "Things are going to get ugly," you sit up straight.
Worst thing: the tendency to fit the issues into a simple good-versus-bad binary.
See it with: anyone aspiring to age disgracefully.
-Mark Orton
