In an earlier article, I remarked on the excitement I had for Clint Eastwood’s new movie, Gran Torino.  This is what I said:

Clint Eastwood gave me a gift.  He made a movie just for me.  It’s called Gran Torino.  It seems to be about a bitter and haggard old veteran who’s not real happy with what old age has to offer.  More than that, he’s not happy with what the world or it’s supposed after-life equivalent has to offer either.  And he’s pissed off about it all.  When things start to boil over for him, he has the opportunity to take it out on someone who deserves while at the same time, awarding someone else a little peace and justice.  Yeah, Eastwood’s going vigilante, and it looks like he’s doing it right.  He may be pushing 80 years old, but he’s showing us that he’s got something to say about it.  Hell yeah!

Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino. Courtesy Warner Bros.

Unfortunately, my excitement was met with dissatisfaction.  This is a ho-hum film for me.  I’d wait until it was out on DVD or HBO if I were you.  Not worth the trip to the theater or the twenty dollars worth of concessions.  That this movie ultimately fails makes me rather sad as it is one that I was looking forward to for some time now.

I wasn’t surprised to see where it failed.  Eastwood is top-notch, but no one else stands a chance.  All of the characters were obviously written with haste and with little depth.  Each of the character performances, save for Eastwood, are plastic and predictable.  Eastwood’s is the only one with any authentic standing.

The other major setback is in the editing.  The pacing is up and down.  The movie is 25 minutes too long and there is waaaay too much talking.  Sitting around and talking.  With paper-thin characters who have no emotional intelligence or other value, this becomes banal and repetitive fast.

My disappointment comes from the fact that I wanted to see a little more action, or a lot less talking.  Or both.  Some of the talking is good and serves a purpose.  We learn a little about the characters and their feelings.  However, most of our learning can come, more effectively, in other ways.  The way someone reacts to how something is said or done.  The lack of talking even says a lot.  Demeanor, clothes, and action say much more sometimes than talking ever does.  And it’s a much more economical approach as well.  Movies need to pack in information like they are riding a major airline that charges luggage by the pound.  Only one carry-on allowed.  Because films are audio-visual, there are so many ways in which to convey information that the last way it should be done is through the characters’ lips.

All of the action/fighting that happens in the movie is worth the time and the effort.  And there are some touching and funny moments too, but they are strung together loosely and are forgotten by the end.

Some of these moments are caused by the shock value from the variety of clever racial epithets issued by the protagonist and a few others, but they become old and overwrought quickly.  I’m not usually a fan of racial stereotyping or racist behavior at all unless it serves a distinct purpose.  Problem number one is that it rarely does.  Blazing Saddles is the only film off the top of my head where it works.  Perhaps in The Jerk it does as well.  However, it’s not as prevalent as in Saddles, or really the point of the movie.  If there is one.  In Gran Torino, it does serve a purpose, but it’s incongruous with the amount of racist dialogue present.

I understand that Eastwood was trying to say something about aging and change, but the message was lost on me.  Much like what happened in Rocky Balboa.  In fact, it was almost exactly what happened in Rocky Balboa.  The pacing was off, there was some good moments, a little good action, but as a whole, it was flat soda.  I suppose one could make the argument that Gran Torino is Clint Eastwood’s Rocky Balboa.  Whis is too bad.

I guess the lesson here is that it is not enough that getting old sucks.  It’s not enough that things changing around you sucks because it’s different.  Age is incidental to being.  It, in and of itself doesn’t matter.  Moral lessons matter.  And though there is a real and somewhat interesting perspective present in a person of a certain age, it doesn’t make a difference in a real substantial way.  Just as a child’s perspective on the lack of attention they are receiving is interesting, it doesn’t really matter.

Eastwood has been on a roll with great movies, but he’s made some stinkers too. Did anyone see Blood Work? Good. It’s not worth your time. On the other hand, The Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby are phenomenal. Even Space Cowboys is solid through-and-through. What’s more is that it discusses age adequately and with vigor. What Torino and Cowboys say are not necessarily the same thing. In fact, they are quite different if not opposite in their perspective. The key difference is that Cowboys does something; it wastes no time. Torino says little and much more slowly. Also, Cowboys works.  Torino does not.

It’s important that you know that I am able to distinguish between my personal feelings and my objective analysis.  It just so happens that they often go hand-in-hand.  Take Mystic River for instance.  I can objectively comment that it is a great movie.  But I happen not to like it.  On the other end, I happen to enjoy The Last Action Hero a great deal while, at the same time, recognizing that it is not a great film.  So don’t blame this one on me.  I just call ‘em how I see ‘em.  I only hope that Eastwood’s next is much better.