USA Today
3 stars out of 4 -- "[W]ell worth the ride....Told in a pared-down style, this is a humanistic tale....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."us 12/12/2008New York Times
"Mr. Eastwood's loose, at times very funny performance in the early part of the film is one of its great pleasures." 12/12/2008 Los Angeles Times
"Eastwood has, with his impeccable directing style and acting presence, turned GRAN TORINO into another in his ongoing series of films that ponder violence, its place and its cost." 12/12/2008 Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "A lifetime in movies runs through this prime vintage Eastwood performance. You can't take your eyes off him." 01/08/2008 p.120 Entertainment Weekly
"[A] movie at once understated and radical....This is subtle, perceptive stuff. '' Grade: A- 12/19/2008 p.40 Chicago Sun-Times
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "Eastwood plays the character as a man bursting with energy, most of which he uses to hold himself in. Each word, each scowl, seems to have broken loose from a deep place." 12/17/2008 Box Office
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Youthful supporting players and Eastwood's hot-button portrayal give GRAN TORINO a chance to strafe the mainstream." 12/12/2008 Washington Post
"In GRAN TORINO, Clint Eastwood delivers a breathtaking performance in a by turns appalling and hilarious role that recalls great ghosts of Eastwood vigilante thrillers past." 12/25/2008 Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "[It's] disarmingly earnest, exploring the themes of vengeance, violence, hollow heroism and past that have fascinated Clint for decades." 03/01/2009 Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "Eastwood the actor grabs you with his first growl and has you between his clenched teeth for the duration....His direction is lean, clean and spare..." 03/01/2009 Premiere
4 stars out of 4 -- "Eastwood continues his streak of excellent movies, and this is the ideal on-screen farewell for an icon..." 06/08/2009 ReelViews 8 of 10
Gran Torino is an amazingly over-the-top anti-racism parable but, despite its obvious shortcomings, it is nevertheless effective and affecting. The storytelling style is old fashioned in what it does and unsubtle in the way it goes about doing it, and Eastwood doesn't plumb any new depths in his stereotyped portrayal of the film's central character. Yet, perhaps because the ending doesn't unspool quite as expected and perhaps because the film has something to say (even if it is presented with a heavy hand), it's hard to deny that Gran Torino works on a certain level. This is far from Eastwood's best work as a director, but it's a respectable effort and is more successful that his tepid earlier 2008 effort, Changeling...Speaking of Eastwood, his name has been mentioned alongside the phrase "Best Actor nomination" in a number of places, but to award the venerable filmmaker/actor with such a tribute in this case would be an injustice. Eastwood is playing a variation of Dirty Harry - a hard-bitten loner who at times is so over-the-top nasty that he borders on self-parody, such as when he literally growls when someone does something of which he disapproves...The film gets points for its unconventional resolution, which I will not disclose here. Suffice it to say that this is a rare movie that doesn't implode during the last reel; the filmmaking team obviously put some thought into the best way to construct the conclusion...As parables go, this one is almost shockingly obvious but, in thinking about it, it's not that far away from Million Dollar Baby, with both films featuring key interactions between Eastwood's character and a priest. And, while Eastwood may not turn in a great performance, he's a strong reliable presence whose participation somehow makes it okay to shed those tears. Despite its flaws, I appreciate Gran Torino, although I do so more with my heart than with my head. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
I would like to grow up to be like Clint Eastwood. Eastwood the director, Eastwood the actor, Eastwood the invincible, Eastwood the old man. What other figure in the history of the cinema has been an actor for 53 years, a director for 37, won two Oscars for direction, two more for best picture, plus the Thalberg Award, and at 78 can direct himself in his own film and look meaner than hell? None, that's how many..."Gran Torino" 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. Eastwood plays the character as a man bursting with energy, most of which he uses to hold himself in. Each word, each scowl, seems to have broken loose from a deep place...Among actors of Eastwood's generation, James Garner might have been able to play this role, but my guess is, he'd be too nice in it. Eastwood doesn't play nice. Walt makes no apologies for who he is, and that's why, when he begins to decide he likes his neighbors better than his own family, it means something. "Gran Torino" isn't a liberal parable. It's more like, out of the frying pan and into the melting pot..."Gran Torino" is about two things, I believe. It's about the belated flowering of a man's better nature. And it's about Americans of different races growing more open to one another in the new century. This doesn't involve some kind of grand transformation. It involves starting to see the "gooks" next door as people you love. And it helps if you live in the kind of neighborhood where they are next door...If the climax seems too generic and pre-programmed, with too much happening fairly quickly, I like that better than if it just dribbled off into sweetness. So would Walt. - Roger Ebert
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