I saw Gran Torino last night and I thought it was excellent. It is in keeping with a lot of the same themes that permeate Slumdog Millionaire and Seven Pounds, but explores them better - and it's not without its share of cliche and predictability - and it also reminded me a lot of what Clint Eastwood did in Million Dollar Baby, which won Best Picture, but I felt was a lesser film than this. Eastwood is outstanding in his performance here; I am having trouble now deciding if I would choose this over Sean Penn in Milk (I might have to give the edge to Penn just because it was so refreshing to finally see the SOB smile a little). No one does Cranky Old Badass better than Clint Eastwood, and he effectively channels the same morally confused humanity here as he did in Unforgiven (another movie to which this film can be paralleled in many ways). Some of the reviews I have read for Torino have been mentioning Dirty Harry, which I am ashamed to admit I have never seen - it is now urgent viewing.
Also thought the supporting cast in this was great, and found the friendship that grows between Clint and his neighbor/protege very touching.
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