Gran Torino

I bet that Clint Eastwood loved the John Wayne swansong movie True Grit (1969) and in many ways his character in Gran Torino (the sonofabitch racist Walt Kowalski) does resemble Wayne's Marshall Reuben J. 'Rooster' Cogburn. Both men are way past their sell by dates, both have trouble relating to the rapidly changing worlds they now inhabit, and both have a deep routed sense of morality and tradition.
And like Wayne's likable rogue, Eastwood dominates the screen as the bad tempered bigot with a heart of , well if not gold, a slightly tarnished silver.
The story is not rocket science. Korean vet Kowalski reluctantly becomes involved with his neighbours ( a Hmong family) who defies a local Asian gang. Unable to deal with his own demons and his faulty relationships with his own grown up sons, the old man redeems himself by acting as a surrogate father to the teenage Thao (Bee Vang) and his sassy sister Sue (the excellent Ahney Her) and in a homage to his old Harry Callahan days, acts as the family's vigilante protector.
Eastwood is wonderful as the growling old git, and his performance is a fitting , possible Oscar worthy end to his long career ( Eastwood is 78 after all!!), but the film itself is let down a little by a rather flat performance of Bee Vang as the son he never really had. The boy actor just doesn't have the sufficient range to mirror Eastwood's barnstorming acting!
I must also add that Christopher Carley also gave a cracking performance as the young family priest, who is convinced ( wrongly) that Kowalski has a terribly dark and sordid past!
7/10