Knee-jerk review: "Gran Torino"

1. "Get off my lawn."
2. Clint Eastwood is a national treasure.
3. A case could be made that it's perhaps Eastwood's best film since Unforgiven. Unlike so many film snobs, we're big fans of the Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby, but that film was operatic and exaggerated where Gran Torino is smaller and somehow subtler.
4. The ending is a bit of a letdown, but upon further review we do understand the reasoning behind it. It's not completely satisfying. But it stays true to the characters. And it plugs in nicely with the film's themes of violence and guilt.
5. There's a lot of humor here. And it's fun to see an Eastwood character show some real heart and levity, particularly as he warms to his immigrant neighbors. It can't all be the squinty scowls, can it?
6. The script is a little on-the-nose, the dialogue sometimes telling us things that Eastwood's camerawork has already communicated.
7. Much delight comes from seeing Eastwood threaten and beat up no-good street thugs. It's like 1983 all over again. Would you want to see him come after you with a big monkey wrench shoved in his belt? He can take you.
8. We haven't tried Pabst Blue Ribbon, but something tells us it's an acquired taste.
9. Who knew there were so many epithets for Asians?

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