Gran Torino (2008)

I rented this movie expecting a lot out of Clint Eastwood and believe the fact that I was not disappointed. It seems that a lot of his movies have sad twists at the end of them. I loved Million Dollar Baby and could not wait to see this movie. Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a Korean war veteran who recently lost his wife and is a little bitter about life. He has these Koreans that move next door and immediately we see that he does not care for them. In fact, he is pretty racist and makes remarks towards them through out the whole movie. It's not until we see the character of Tao, who is played by Bee Vang and his sister Sue, who is played by Ahney Her that we see a different side of Walt. Both are making their acting debuts in this movie and it is Tao who makes the critical decision by trying to steal Walt's 1972 Gran Torino, that they interact. Tao is a very cowardly person, who is told constantly what to do by his sister and according to Walt, "has no balls." It is here that Sue begins interacting with Walt and becoming his friend that Walt decides to take Tao under his wing by showing him what it means to be a man by means of tough love. He also saves Tao from his cousin who is a gang member and the reason Tao tried to steal the car. He begins a war against these gangs that will affect their lives. Other great characters in this movie is the priest who is played by Christopher Carley (Lions For Lambs) who tries constantly to get Walt to come to confession, but almost never succeeds and Walt always knows how to cut him down to size in a good way. All of those characters above learn valuable lessons in life from Walt and as well they teach Walt something about himself. The movie also stars Brian Haley (Little Giants, The Departed), Geraldine Hughes (Rocky Balboa, Duplex), Dreama Walker (Sex And The City Movie, Whereever You Are), and Brian Howe (Evan Almighty, The Pursuit Of Happyness) as Walt's immediate family. The movie also features John Carroll Lynch (Zodiac, Gothika) as Walt's barber as well. Clint Eastwood is the one of the best actors of the 20Th century and just might be a very great director as well. Four Stars Out Of Five