Moving Collage Beyond Karrate Kid and Second Hand Lions, June 20, 2009
Clint Eastwood
I got this movie on a whim, in part because I am tired of seeing Americans turning into either fat blobs or pussies afraid of their own shadow (or worse, self-righteous morons who really think government is the answer to everything.
Eastwood might hate the comparison, but this is a collage that goes well beyond The Karate Kid meets Secondhand Lions (New Line Platinum Series).
It most assuredly is right up there with Million Dollar Baby (Full Screen Edition) and Absolute Power.
It's hard to sum up this movie so I will say just three things:
1. He weaves every possible American hard-ass self-made man image in as gracefully as it could be done.
2. He does for the hill people of Viet-Nam what Bride and Prejudice did for India but without the music, love, and dance.
3. The ending is spectacular–Eastwood's voice in the background, slow singing against a visual as the Gran Torino drives toward the future with its special passenger who inherited from the master. For this alone I would rent or buy the DVD.
