Gran Torino (2008/Warner Blu-ray + DVD)
Picture:
B/C+ Sound: B/B- Extras: C+ Film: B
Though he
is not giving up directing anytime soon, it is a shame to see Clint Eastwood
going into retirement as an actor. Four
years after his triumph in Million Dollar Baby, he is back as the ever-annoyed
and now widowed Walt Kowalski in Gran
Torino, which he also directs. A
comedy with an edge that slowly drifts into a drama, Walt is unhappy with his life, the loss of his
wife to an illness has devastated him (whether he’ll admit it or not) and he
sees just about everyone around him as an idiot. He is also unhappy with minorities and that
his once-thriving neighborhood where he has lived all his adult life has become
a ghetto.
Besides
being sick of his immediate family and adult children who don’t do much for
him, their children are waiting for him to die so they can split up his
personal belongings and does not like his Southeast Asian neighbors much
either. A brother and sister next door
try to stay to of trouble, but a cousin in a street gang tries to bully the
young man into trouble and that includes stealing. Walt could care less, but is at the ready
with his rifle if they even cross over onto his yard. However, he’ll discover he cannot stay out of
conflict for long and when they try to take his precious car (of the film’s
title), they have gone too far.
Performances
are fine throughout, but Eastwood steals the show as the last of a line of
old-style patriots who are a bit racist in the least and after fighting in
Korea, wonders what has happened to his country. The Dave Johannson/Nick Schenk screenplay is
a gem, very smart, knowing, bold, daring and with subtle points you might miss
upon your first screening. Whether this
will be Eastwood’s last-ever performance or not is yet to be seen, but if it
is, he is going out on top and Gran
Torino is classic Eastwood all the way.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot in real anamorphic Panavision
and though there are some soft edges and style choices that hold it back, the
transfer is rich in a way it might not otherwise be. The anamorphically enhanced DVD proves this by
having real trouble capturing said richness, but with weaker Video Black. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix on the Blu-ray is
better than the Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes on both formats simply because it is
not as rich or warm. This film is often
dialogue and some music, but sounds fuller in TrueHD in a way regular Dolby
cannot cut.
Extras on
both versions include Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices, two
making-of featurettes, one called Manning The Wheel about manhood and
the car culture and Gran Torino: More Than A Car with a visit to Detroit. The Blu-ray adds BD-Live capacities that
include The Eastwood Way about the way he makes his films.
- Nicholas Sheffo
