Clint Eastwood gives a stirring performance and sparks a great comeback into films. He makes you forget your watching the actor, and you start to think his character is real. Eastwood plays a Korean War vet who doesn’t take nonsense from nobody. His wife has passed and he lives by himself in an Asian neighborhood with Hmong people.Their is definitely some racial tension, it is almost palpable in the film.

His neighbors have a young son Thao nicknamed “Toad”. This boy is considered “weak” by his family and is always doing the “female” chores. There are Hmong gangs in this neighborhood and they start harassing and trying to initiate Toad into their gang. Toad is hesitant but then caves to the peer pressure and has to steal the Gran Torino from Eastwood’s garage as his initiation. From there the story has you hooked and doesn’t let you out of its grasp.

I won’t give away anything more about the plot, since it is definitely worth enjoying every moment. There is great character arc with Eastwood and his acting will keep you enthralled. The film covers the spectrum of emotions, there is funny and sad moments alongside a bevy of action. It is not your typical shoot em up “Dirty Harry” style film, it has more heart than that. I went in thinking the film would be all about fighting and shooting and it had more substance to it and I was pleasantly surprised.

While the Asian actors in the film were definitely inexperienced, it brought a realistic feel to the movie. They were basically being themselves instead of trying to play at something they are not. Whereas a rookie director would try and make them into stars, Eastwood knows better, to let them be themselves is the wise thing to do.

The story is phenomenonal and the characters are all unique and interesting. The plot takes you for lots of different twists and ends in the unexpected. Films like these really don’t come along often these days. It has the traditional honor of the older generation infused with the minority youth of today. From a marketing sense, you wouldn’t think it would have a large target audience,  but because of it’s substance and quality people are drawn to it. If your friends haven’t told you to see it, then I am telling you to go see this film. It was a very bizarre experience when you walk out of the film, and then in the streets you see some of the same racial issues that were just being talked about an hour beforehand.