Gran Torino- Clint Eastwood

Overrated, for me, is "Unforgiven".... I would have no reason to watch that yarn ever again. I like good westerns, but the Hollywood establishment and critics needed to give Clint his just due, and they chose "Unforgiven" as that vehicle. They really just love their power -- to arbitrarily choose...

 

The ending seemed very contrived to me, it really was a moment. I just didn't buy it. Even the watered-down racial slurs felt "planted" in the dialog.

ok, I know some folks really enjoyed it and I don't want to be a buzz-kill so

 

I enjoyed renting the Blu-ray. I thought the film was very good, but not great. The general outcome was very predictable, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

 

Did you really predict that that was how Clint was going to take care of those guys?

 

I thought the film was great...and I thought the ending was going to be completely different.

 

I thought The Reader was okay. Very slow. For some reason Ralph Fiennes' charactor looked younger in 1995 than he did in 1976. A little makeup would have helped. And since it was Ralph Fiennes his expression never changed. A little acting would have helped.

Gran Torino was somewhat predictable, but thoroughly entertaining.

 

You have to remember that one of Clint's first lines in the film is "They must've heard there would be a lot of ham." The growling etc. is meant to be humorous and hammy and the audience in the theater was just howling along with it - very appreciative of how intertextual the film was with the rest of Eastwood's canon. The film is flawed to be sure, but I have to say I really enjoyed it and appreciated seeing Eastwood deconstruct his own screen image.

 

I said general outcome. I didn’t think he would end up as he did, but I was certain he was going to trick them and wasn’t buying the obvious setup.

 

Saw it in San Diego over Christmas with my sister. It was this or "The Wrestler", another fine film. We both exited "Torino" with a big smile, more so that we were really entertained & possibility identified with the whole "grumpy" Clint thing.

 

A film of the highest caliber

Actually, it was a .45ACP Colt Govt. Model...and don't forget that vintage M-1 Garand.

 

Just finished it. The Mrs. and I really enjoyed it. I laughed more than the average person probably would but I grew up around some old codgers like that. I was impressed that the major plot didn't revolve around Clint taking on the local gangs.

 

Never seen Gran Torino.

I was referring to Clint's Dirty Harry charactors hand gun.

 

Saw it last night and it was good entertainment - not a great film, but good entertainment. Living in Queens NY, the most ethnic diversified area in the USA I could relate to Wally, although I'm not so 'old skool'.

The ending was a surprise but a well thought out plan by Clint. I was just surprised a SWAT team wasn't called in.

 

I finally got around to see this last week and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had some good messages and spiritual principles at work. What happened to the sister near the end was disturbing. I thought the priest was a horrible actor. But overall, I thought it was great and I'm still thinking about it.

 

Another Clint Eastwood classic. Very funny, very different. Good message and a realistic believable bunch of amateur actors, that in no way were of Hollywood standards. (Which was the point i guess ?).
The grandma was terrific !
The clash between the dedicated unity of a tribe like family model vs a complicated, divided selfish, egocentric yet everyday regular familiar structure of a 21st century middle class family was never portrait to that extent in a Hollywood movie before afaik...
All of that combined may be a reason for some to dislike the movie - not for me though and astonishingly even people I thought wouldn't enjoy that type of multi cultural friendship loved Gran Torismo...
Well the ending .... was it a bit over the top ?
Yes !
But it was the right thing to do and it took a real hero to do it .....
and who else but Dirty Harry would be qualifuied for that type of action ?

But besides all that serious stuff the movie is first and foremost funny and good entertainment !

 

I agree. I laughed when he told his dog, "That old hag hates my ***" Good entertainment

 

I liked the film but didn't think it was all that impressive. It reminded me of "Million Dollar Baby" a film that has its moments but doesn't impress the way that earlier films did.

 

I liked the flick.

Clint's character reminded me a lot of his role in 'Heartbreak Ridge' (one of the best potty mouth movies I've seen).

 

The big difference for me: despite its flaws, I enjoyed "GT", but I friggin' HATED "MDB". That was such a weak film that I still can't believe it earned so much praise. TV movie nonsense! At least "GT" was entertaining...

 

I still can't decide whether or not I liked GT. A few parts of it seemed well done, but mostly it seemed cliched and hackneyed. I suspect there's more to it than I got on one viewing and will have to get it again to give it a second chance.

John K.

 

Actually, I think you got everything you're gonna get out of it. "GT" is a crowd-pleaser with some thematic pretensions, but it really exists just to let Clint play Dirty Harry one last time (without CALLING him "Dirty Harry", that is). I saw it twice and didn't discover any hidden nuances the second time - it's all on the surface...

 

I have a friend who won't stop talking about this movie. It has profoundly moved him.

I thought it was really good, but nothing especially memorable.

 

Love it. My wife cried in the end. We're both big Clint fans but that doesn't mean we're not objective. A true Eastwood classic IMHO.

 

I still can't get it from Netflix so my wife will get me the Blu for my birthday next week. I'm also a big fan so I imagine I'll love it.

 

Saw it today. Well made but predictable and a bit too long.

R