Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 34 Critics What's this?

User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 441 Ratings

  • Starring: Bee Vang, Clint Eastwood
  • Summary: Retired auto worker Walt Kowalski fills his days with home repair, beer and monthly trips to the barber. The people he once called his neighbors have all moved or passed away, replaced by Hmong immigrants, from Southeast Asia, he despises. Resentful of virtually everything he sees--Walt is just waiting out the rest of his life. Until the night someone tries to steal his `72 Gran Torino. The Gran Torino brings his shy teenaged neighbor Thao into his life when Hmong gangbangers pressure the boy into trying to steal it. But Walt stands in the way of both the heist and the gang, making him the reluctant hero of the neighborhood--especially to Thao's mother and older sister, Sue, who insist that Thao work for Walt as a way to make amends. Though he initially wants nothing to do with these people, Walt eventually gives in and puts the boy to work fixing up the neighborhood, setting into motion an unlikely friendship that will change both their lives. (Warner Bros. Pictures) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 34
  2. Negative: 1 out of 34
  1. A movie at once understated and radical, deceptively unremarkable in presentation and ballsy in its earnestness. Don't let the star's overly familiar squint fool you: This is subtle, perceptive stuff.
  2. Reviewed by: Angie Errigo
    80
    Simply terrific, enormously watchable and an absolute must for all Eastwood fans. Gotta say it: this film will make your day.
  3. Eastwood has always had the gift for comedy in his acting repertoire, but he indulges in it only rarely. His fans might embrace this return to comedy.
  4. 38
    It's no compliment to say a movie is "all of a piece" if the piece is all worn out. For all its surface harshness, this movie is a star vehicle at once rickety and cozy.

See all 34 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 17 out of 180
  1. This movie has one of the most interesting main characters I have seen in a very long time, and if it didn't have that it would have gotten a much lower score from me. Eastwood's performance is amazing. Expand
  2. 8
    A film that speaks to the perceptual tensions humans face in the most significant of facets, and does so with such poise and audacity that the viewer can't help but adore. What compels "Gran Torino" to its bold of state is the lingering emotive responses we feel from Eastwood, who merely from a glance, tells the story of life through the aged, piercing eyes that burrows inside of you, and demands of your notice. Visually, "Gran Torino" may appear to be an "out-of-it's-prime," vintage piece of work, but the engine thrives and subdues its supposed insipidity to its previously prime state where its gritty demeanor flourishes. Collapse
  3. TerryC
    6
    A lot of potential, spoiled by reprehensible acting from everyone except Clint. I was laughing in parts where I really shouldn't have been laughing. But still enjoyable enough to earn a slightly passing grade. Expand
  4. Clint starts off in fine acerbic form as Walt, a malcontented Korean War vet with neighbour problems, but regrettably the film rapidly descends into homily, cliche and downright implausibility. Gasp as Walt discovers his softer side! Chuckle at the chutzpah of the young girl confronting three would-be rapists with wisecracks and her irascible neighbour with cheeky repartee! Marvel as the impossibly baby-faced priest becomes Walt's confidante in a last minute schmaltzy reconciliation between Walt and his long-lost faith!

    Extra half a star for "Click Clack, Ding Dong and Charlie Chan", though. Funny when he was being mean, saccharine when he wasn't, and impossible to reconcile the two.
    Expand

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