Gran Torino

For his grand finale, Clint chose one of his best ever stories. The decrepit and permanently pissed Wall-E Kowalsky is also one of his most original characters. He deals out snappy lines and threats with style, beats Koreans in the face while even having time to mentor another (this time good) Korean. Eastwood planned everything carefully and his Gran Torino has a lot to say and manages at the same time to be entertaining to watch, sometimes making you laugh out loud and sometimes (mostly at the end) shed a tear. A picture that I would happily watch again anytime. (02/21/2009)

While in Million Dollar Baby, Clint Eastwood never left the boxing ring, here he never leaves his own front porch. Gran Torino is even more intimate than his recent boxing opus and delivers an even harder knockout blow to the audience. Eastwood portrays one of his most interesting characters in an incredibly smoothly flowing movie – the easy-to-follow setting of the simple story emphasizes the seamless continuity of individual scenes composing an intriguing character study of Eastwood’s Kowalski. Everything in this movie has its place and meaning, including a brief lawn-mowing shot. Not to mention the song in the end credits... (02/16/2009)

Clint Eastwood really knows what he's doing and with this film he surpasses even his previous hits. Gran Torino immediately catches the eye with its fantastic and interesting portrayal of each character, but what’s worth watching above all is the gradual mental transformation and inner struggle of Clint himself, who was given an extremely illegible role by the script and, together with the convincing Christopher Carley, created one of the most perfect cinematic duos I've ever seen. Despite a premise that smacks of boredom, the film moves along at a high pace, is really well directed and emotional, and the incredibly human expression of friendship and belonging that slowly but surely rises to the surface won't let you skip a beat. And the ending?!... That one really got me. (06/08/2011)

Clint's Farewell, or Empties by the American badass. The film has a tendency to slide into cliché and calculation, but the character of a grumpy old man who finds redemption (?) in his old age has the kind of gradation that will make you swallow the two hours of mentoring and lamenting the good old days to the max. Objectively, there are many things that could be criticized about it, but subjectively, it affected me so much that I don't want to have any reservations regarding it. (05/15/2009)

This really swept me away. The entire film flows with the same melancholic mood, regardless of whether they are exchanging bullets or sarcastic wisecracks. Gran Torino drives straight to a clear ending, but that’s one of its strengths. Really, a surprising twist wouldn’t be fitting, everything ends the way it should. And the end credits have a wonderful song with a powerful effect that multiplies the emotions of the film as a whole. For me, one of the year’s best films. (12/27/2008)