Gran Torino

I'm going to miss Clint Eastwood, it is a shame to see someone with so much talent leave behind part of their artistic career, for others it is different, I was happy to see the back of Joaquin Phoneix, and it warmed my heart when Eddie Murphy briefly announced that he was retiring, but it is sad to think that this is the last performance by Clint Eastwood, a man who was known for his acting long before he was known for his directing, it is a career capping performance in what is one of Eastwood's best films as a director in years, Letters From Iwo Jima was quite good but not as satisfying as Gran Torino, despite Eastwood's note perfect performance the supporting cast are never overshadowed which is a testament to the man's ability to seperate the craft of director and actor, the film is certainly far from egotism of Mel Gibson in Braveheart where other elements of the film suffer so that the director can give what he feels to be an excellent performance, while the character arc Eastwood follows in the film is a touch unrealistic, the narrative is so compelling it barely matters, it is also nice that Eastwood infused the film with such a comical touch that has been missing in his more recent work, it is an end of era undoubtedly and there will no longer be new, reassurring images of Clint Eastwood brandishing a gun in American cinema, it is sad.