30 or so minutes before Gran Torino ended, my girlfriend turned to me and said "this is the most unbelievable film I've ever seen."

And I tend to agree. Look, its bad, really bad. Characters are thinly drawn even by cartoon standards. Everyone says exactly what they're thinking as they're thinking it "wow, the sky IS blue." And you can see finale coming from a million miles away. Comparing it to a Liftime TV movie would be an understatement.

All that aside, it was incredible to see Dirty Harry on the screen again. Yeah, I know. His name is Walt (there's a running gag throughout about not calling him Wally(e), funny stuff). But he is Dirty Harry, retired, living alone, and being a complete bad-ass.

See it for Clint, try your best to ignore everything else.

B+

Manohla Dargis respectfully disagrees.

She liked or disliked?

I'm about to watch this, should be a blast!

She liked very very much.

The closest thing I can compare Clint's performance to is Melvin Udall in As Good As It Gets...

You know, had a better script been in place, and well frankly, director, Gran Torino could have been a contender.

This is a pretty cracking effort from Eastwood, but its not the comedy the (in hindsight) rather stupidly cut trailer would lead you to believe.

I suppose it is Dirty Harry, but its a Dirty Harry filled with regret. Yes there are moments of humour but they are punctuated by the decay of a neighborhood and the confusion of an old man.

The support players deserve more credit then they will get, especially the young Priest and the ending although like Loyal said is telegraphed a mile off makes logical sense in the context of what went before.

I'll give credit to the young priest in that he did a really good job reading the cue cards.

But I do also understood Eastwood was striving for authenticity. So in that, yes, these are real life people reading from a bad script.

BJs Grade:

A

the oscar bait is top notch this year, outstanding film, Clint for BA all the way.

While the acting by the supporting cast(with the exception of the priest, he was quite good) was mediocre i still felt sympathy for their characters, and Eastwood IMO gives his best performance since Unforgiving.Infact, this film is like The Modern version of Unforgiving, only with more humor(and thats intentional humor). I'll be rooting for Clint to win a best actor oscar.

***1/2 /****

eh it was a decent little film. Clint really saves the film, he had some great lines. The priest was really the only good other performer in the film.

B.

Gran Torino is all of the best bits of (mostly older) Clint Eastwood moments all rolled up into one very well made and entertaining film. I could also tell right away, due to Eastwood's masterful guide and steady hand, that this picture will have very high replay value. The movie never lulls, and especially not during the dialogue scenes, of which there are some good lines. Eastwood's deft skills as a filmmaker shine through, and it's easy to see why this great legend is one of the greatest directors of all time! It's like he was conducting an orchestra!

Eastwood simply outdoes himself on all fronts, as Gran Torino sometimes is a parody of the icon. He growls threw his scenes with a snarl that has become an important part of pulp culture, but the movie never loses it's serious tone. The humor is very well paced, and I especially liked the bit in the barber shop between Walt (Clint) and his barber friend. The prejudices and racial slurs spewed out by Eastwood would be enough to make the racist Harry Callahan blush. Again, it's effectively used, if not over the top. The film has a lot of heart, too. The kind that makes you feel good about the human spirit.

Eastwood decided to go with a cast that is "under the radar", to say the least, but again, it's effective. I thought the entire cast worked very well, and I was especially impressed with Ahney Her, who plays Sue. She's quite the cutie, with enough sass to go around. It was her acting debut, and I'd like to see much more of her. Eastwood's son Scott is even in the film, in a nice little turn as Sue's would be "pussy" boyfriend, Trey. Not a bad job.

Clint Eastwood is the ultimate badass in the history of motion pictures, and Gran Torino is his stage to celebrate that very fact with movie fans around the world, and he hams it up for all it's worth! I'd nominate him for an Oscar and give him the win just on principle. Eastwood brings the best bits from William Munny in Unforgiven, Thomas Highway in Heartbreak Ridge, Frank Horrigan in In the Line of Fire, Frankie Dunn in Million Dollar Baby, and Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry series, and creates a memorable and sympathetic character that will stand beside the best Eastwood films proudly.

To get to hear raspy voiced Clint crooning as the credits rolled was the proverbial cherry on top.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!

A

Check it out online for free at this high quality link and let me know what you think!

Part one:

http://www.zshare.net/video/5265788508a3a01a/

Part two:

http://www.zshare.net/video/52658093c8dc18f2/

Maverikk do you think I will like it?

If you have good taste in movies you will!

Please no direct links to pirated material in threads. Use PMs for that, or a more general approach.

Not that it matters that much in this case, as files were deleted by zShare.

Eastwood's anger amuses me. B+

It was hilarious and highly amusing. Even though I thought the ending was great,

B+

It did surpass my expectations.... A-

Whether or not you liked "Cast Away" revolved around Tom Hanks' charm and acting capabilities, for the most part. Same exact movie with the same crew/script/budget, starring somebody who the screen didn't love nearly as much, and it would've been a bore. And the same applies to "I Am Legend" and Will Smith. Although those are two movies that, unlike "Gran Torino," only contain one character for the majority of the time, "Gran Torino" is pretty similar in the sense that everything about this movie - its drama, its humor, its intensity - revolves around Eastwood's retired-Dirty-Harry performance. Almost to the extent that it feels like Eastwood cast unknowns without much ability (I'm mostly talking about the kid he befriends) for the sake of making himself seem that much better -- and it works. You don't even need to care about the other characters (though it would've been nice if he let us). With "just any ordinary old guy," this movie would have probably sucked (and on top of that, been very unbelievable, since he's the only guy his age who could conceivably frighten a gang... and even that was a bit of a stretch). But Eastwood's such a bad-ass that it works. It's not a great movie by any means, but it works. And I applaud him for pulling that off, because this had the potential to be the most laughably lame movie of the year.

B

A total comedy - - a Dirty Harry parody done right - - actually a complete Clint Eastwood persona parody!

I really enjoyed watching this crotchety old man skewering all the pompous false bravado in the world around him. When Clint threatens ya here - - he means it. And the endgame was perfectly played as a strategy and a movie finale - - like a chess match.

Then there was all the insightful and hilarious discussion on topics such as:
- the meaning of religion
- how to be a man
- tools
- cars
- race and racism
- the meaning of life and all that

This is a very cool movie! I can't wait to see it again soon to pick up all the little riffs I missed the first time from laughing so much...

Bravo Clint! ...for letting go of the serious auteur reins for a minute, and making a flat out philosophical comedy!!!

75 out of 5.

Just read Roger Ebert's review - - and he comes up with a good line to describe this film:

"Out of the frying pan and into the melting pot."

Not quite among Clint Eastwood's all-time best work but rather effective nonetheless. I loved how hilarious it was at times, it very often veered into the realm of "comedy." Eastwood has done this kind of thing before but he's still great and engaging in his role. Bee Vang (playing the film's other lead, Thao) and Ahney Her (as Sue) are also solid considering they're making their film debuts. This movie is really what you make of it. It doesn't appear to have been designed exclusively to win Oscars. Instead, it works simply by entertaining and presenting a solid overall message. B+

This film far surpassed my expectations. It is hilarious, one of the best comedies of the year. I also really enjoyed Clint's performance, him teaching Thao how to act like a man was very good. The supporting actors don't do much, the kids performances are awful for instance. The dialogue in the film is outstanding.

- A-

It's not an outstanding movie (it's not even that good, to be honest), but it's definitely worth checking out just to see Clint's performance. It's pretty funny and it's awesome to see Clint kicking ass and taking names, but otherwise, nothing too awesome about it. Just solid.

perfect summary...