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Gran Torino
Warner Bros. Pictures


8.6

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 202 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for language throughout, and some violence

Starring Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, and Christopher Carley

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)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Dave Johannson (story) Nick Schenk (& story)
DIRECTED BY:	Clint Eastwood
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: December 12, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

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.

Village Voice Scott Foundas

Above all, it feels like a summation of everything he (Eastwood) represents as a filmmaker and a movie star, and perhaps also a farewell.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Perhaps the best thing about Schenk's script is that it enticed Eastwood to end his self-imposed acting hiatus and bring his one-of-a-kind aura back to the screen.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Mr. Eastwood is also an adept director of his own performances and, perhaps more important, a canny manipulator of his own iconographic presence.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Eastwood finds the humorous aspects of the character as well, no more so than when the appetite of the widower who lives on beef jerky and Pabst Blue Ribbon becomes the center of attention among the Hmong women cooks.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The movie is supremely entertaining -- and often hilarious.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A lifetime in movies runs through this prime vintage Eastwood performance. You can't take your eyes off him. The no-frills, no-bull Gran Torino made my day.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

It's also a terrific, career-capping role for Eastwood, who claims he's now retired as an actor. He shows off his comic chops more fully than in any film since "Bronco Billy" more than a quarter-century ago.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Stars Eastwood as an American icon once again -- this time as a cantankerous, racist, beer-chugging retired Detroit autoworker who keeps his shotgun ready to lock and load. Dirty Harry on a pension, we're thinking, until we realize that only the autoworker retired; Dirty Harry is still on the job.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

It's a meditation, as affecting as it is entertaining, on the limits of violence and the power of unchained empathy.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

If you can survive the F-bombs and the near-constant ethnic invective, Gran Torino is not to be missed, if only as the gutsy, thoroughly unexpected valedictory of an icon fully willing to spend every bit of his considerable capital.

The New Yorker David Denby

The movie was not written for Eastwood, but it still seems to be all about him--his past characters, his myth, his old role as a dispenser of raw justice.

Empire Angie Errigo

Simply terrific, enormously watchable and an absolute must for all Eastwood fans. Gotta say it: this film will make your day.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

This is Eastwood's first acting job since "Million Dollar Baby," and his range, like his raspiness, is fairly one-note.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Gran Torino amounts to one more elegiac movement in Eastwood's astonishing late-career symphony.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

For those who gripe that America doesn't make cars or movies like it used to, Clint Eastwood has two words for you: Gran Torino.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

This movie seems even rougher around the edges than much of his past work. Still, it's hard to resist.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Earnest and understated, Gran Torino is an unflinching examination of themes that have fascinated Eastwood in most of his recent films: family, war, loss, faith and unexpected human connection.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

An amazingly over-the-top anti-racism parable but, despite its obvious shortcomings, it is nevertheless effective and affecting.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Eastwood directs with his usual relaxed pace and bursts of intensity, a style that's pleasing to watch--and which, also as usual, never fully compensates for any shortcomings of the script handed to him.

Slate Dana Stevens

Eastwood's furthest venture yet into the comic possibilities of his flintier-than-thou persona.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Highlighted by the star's vastly entertaining performance, this funny, broad but ultimately serious-minded drama about an old-timer driven to put things right in his deteriorating neighborhood looks to be a big audience-pleaser.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

The movie is ludicrous, but Eastwood’s consistency is poignant. He has an agenda and sticks to it.

Film Threat Scott Mendelson

Gran Torino is not a masterpiece. It’s a fun character drama that features a knowing but winning final performance by Clint Eastwood and just enough commentary to make it worth discussing.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Until Gran Torino starts rumbling headlong toward its tone-deaf, self-serious ending -- the script is by Nick Schenk -- it's often enjoyable, satisfying and funny.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

An endlessly fascinating movie. If only it were a good one.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

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.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Eastwood's performance is the movie's centerpiece, and as you might expect, it's just tough enough to hold everything together.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Eastwood's foursquare directorial aesthetic tends to heighten, rather than camouflage, a screenplay's shortcomings.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Maybe this mixed-up and weird, awful but awfully likable movie is what Dirty Harry had coming to him, after all.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Eastwood is still a primal force on-screen, but his unusual practice of shooting scripts as written, which served him well on "Unforgiven" and "Million Dollar Baby," here leaves him exposed to Nick Schenk's familiar situations and awkward dialogue.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Gran Torino skids into the narrative ditch. By the time it jolts to an ending, followed by Clint rasping a tune to the closing credits, you're more likely to be rolling your eyes than dabbing them.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Nick Schenk's well-intentioned script employs the creaky old Hollywood device of reversing everything set up in its first half.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 202 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jay R gave it a7:
While it was a strong performance from Clint Eastwood as well as a solid direction, the movie just seemed to fall over time. When he begins the interact with his neighbors it starts out well but then leads into a cheeseball movie. The boy "toad" acted horribly and was very unconvincing as well as the rest of his family as well as the gangsters and the young preacher. But in entirety the moral of the story is a strong and good one. If only it could have been played out better.

WB gave it a4:
Just echoing the sentiments of some other voters: poor acting by the young cast members; unbelievably fast bonding between ardent racist Walt and his Hmong neighbors; cliched situations used to create conflict; blatant exposition at times (such as when Walt talks to himself in the mirror about how much he has in common with the Hmong--he may as well just turned to the camera and spoke the line to the audience). And his singing at the end seals this raw deal. Don't believe the hype, as they say. It's just average at best.

Nicholas K gave it a10:
Incredibly powerful, both humorous and moving at the same time. One of the best films I've seen in a long time.

Mr Me gave it a9:
This was the funniest film I've seen in ages, though perhaps for the wrong reasons. There's a lot of excellent acting in this film. Clint Eastwood plays the role of a racist old fart perfectly. Really enjoyable film.

jim N gave it a5:
Not nearly as good as all the hype. Forced dialogue, bad acting, contrived writing

M H gave it a10:
Best Movie of the year. Awesome movie, with some of the best character development I have seen in some time.

S C gave it a10:
Haven't even seen this one yet, but I will tomorrow (my first chance for a crowd-free monday afternoon flick in a while). If Michael Sragow says "no", I say "YES"! Always. Jeez, Mike, don't you have any friends to remind you that cynicism and self-absorbed vocabulary are no substitute for intelligence and good taste?

Gran Torino Warner Bros. Pictures

Gran Torino
Warner Bros. Pictures