Tagged: “Utterly Umissable”
Source: UK TV Trailer
Location: Burnley Apollo Cinema
Accompanied by: Andrew
Line re-action: As we entered, there was nobody on the counter. A disgruntled looking lady noticed us waiting to be served. She seemed pissed about having to do her job (“I know love. Life’s a bitch when you have to do what you get paid for”) I could tell she was pissed as she started to chew her gum more ferociously. As I handed over the money I delivered the line, “I believe this film’s unmissable!” with a smile on my face. Without looking me in the eye, she uttered, with total disinterest, under her breath, “Apparently”.
Film Review:
To go into a Clint Eastwood film thinking, “I’m gonna be blown away. My brain is gonna get truly challenged now,” would be a stupid thing to do. So I dropped my film guard and switched off the brain and allowed myself to be fed, Gran Turino.
Clint plays Walt, an ex-Nam war veteran. He doesn’t like life; he doesn’t like anything that’s not American. Basically, he’s an old-fashioned, stuck-in-his-ways, racist bastard! (a lot like Dirty Harry, except racist). And what better place to see this film in a town that’s choc-full of racist bigots!
The film opens with him at the funeral of his wife; within this one scene you know his entire outlook on life (well, pretty much).
He lives in a Chinese community (being the stubborn son-of-a-bitch he is, he won’t move, and why the fuck should he? He’s American for Christ sake!) He doesn’t like his neighbours (they’re Hmong), and they don’t like him. His neighbours include a cute, chubby girl called Sue, and her younger brother, Thao. They’re smart kids.
Thao’s cousin is a gang member and is constantly trying to bully Thao into joining his gang and be a man. Under pressure, Thao gives in to their torments and agrees to steal Walt’s (that’s Clint remember) classic, Gran Turino car. Unsurprisingly, Walt catches Thao, but Thao manages to escape.
The following evening Thoa’s cousin and his goons return to try and get Thao to join them again, but Thao ain’t for leaving. This leads to a squabble on the lawn, which spills over onto Walt’s lawn. Now the shit’s hit the fan! Out steps Walt with a gun and scares off the goons. In the eyes of his neighbours, he is now a hero.
Later on, Walt rescues Sue from being attacked by three “good for nothing punks!” and it’s here the two of them start to bond. The scene where he confronts the three yobs was quite amusing, and I did chuckle (it’s ok, it was intended to be funny!) It even includes a cameo from Clint’s real-life son playing a white guy who thinks he’s “all hip-hop”.
Sue invites Walt over to her house for a barbecue (which co-incides with his birthday) and his heart starts to soften. Again, I chuckled throughout this scene as he tries to get his head round their culture. A theme that’s been dealt with in endless amounts of films, but if it’s done right, it’s good, and Clint did a good job here. He made me chuckle, so that’s gotta be good, right?
Thao is later ordered by his parents to work for Walt to make-up for him attempting to steal his car. Reluctantly, Walt agrees to this, and over time, the two of them become good friends, and for a good half-hour, the film becomes a light-hearted comedy, with no sign of his cousin’s gang. Walt takes Thao under his wing and begins to teach him how to “be a REAL man”. One of the best scenes in the film takes place during this time, when Walt takes him to his Italian barber. This is where we get to see the Father side to Walt (as previously seen, he doesn’t like his own family very much as all they want to do is take from him).
The two of them are getting along fine and Walt is now on good terms with his neighbours. Heck, he even gets Thao a job! But then, inevitably, more shit is thrown onto the fan, and Thao’s house is gun-fired by his cousins crew, and later that night, Sue returns home, badly beaten up and raped. Walt is now seriously TO’d and it’s here the inevitable is to happen. Ladies and gentleman, we have a vengeance coming our way! YES!!! My immediate thought was, “Oh yes! We’re gonna have a Death Wish 3 on our hands here!”
However, the ending wasn’t as predictable as you’d think, and a nice twist occurred. Basically, not the Death Wish 3 ending I was hoping for, but a good ending none-the-less.
The film may have followed the step-by-step of a narrative script, and it was let down by the wooden acting by Thao (played by Bee Vang). Even some of the directing was very clichéd. I couldn’t really fathom the whole point of the priest (Father Janovich) being in it (again, his acting, Christopher Carley, was fairly stiff), and there’s a scene after the attack on Thao’s house has happened between Walt and Father Janovich that is utterly cringe worthy. There’s far too many scenes where Walt spits out a big gobful of tobacco (I think all those Westerns he did have had a lasting effect on him). There’s also too much of him talking to himself, saying out his thoughts aloud. I’ve never liked this in films; it’s so unrealistic and lazy of a filmmaker.
Overall, I wouldn’t say this was a bad film; it’s not all too bad at all. I wasn’t bored during it and it didn’t drag at any point. As for unmissable? That’s way too overboard, it’s a good film with a few minor quips, but definitely not unmissable. The only reason I can think why it’s been tagged as unmissable is because if you think about it, Clint has been rather crafty and taken the best bits of all his past films and amalgamated them all into one film. You’ve a vigilante in Walt, just like Dirty Harry. There are bits of humour in it, like Every Which Way But Loose (but without an orang-utan). And you’ve got tobacco spitting and a couple of showdowns like his Westerns, A Fistful Of Dollars and what not. So it’s a recipe for success!
Also, if like the people in the audience at the Burnley screening I attended, you can laugh at the racist slurs without an ounce of guilt! (I did hear a couple chortle when a doctor said her name was Dr Choo – it wasn’t supposed to be funny!)
However, the one thing that is unmissable about Gran Torino are the end credits, because as they role you are treated to Clint Eastwood singing! (Not in character, just a song played over the credits. Though you could easily make the mistake thinking it was him singing in character with his distinctive tones). It’s so good that Andrew and me were in fits of laughter … but nobody else was.
Verdict: Admirable
