Gran Torino: B

OK, there is some predictability about the narrative, but not so much that Gran Torino wasn't worth making, or watching. The script should have received an Original Screenplay nomination, in its better moments it breathes if not amazes. Eastwood plays his own Dirty Harry persona in retirement, but what is best here are the Michigan locations [the production brought much-needed capital to the rust belt] and the bigger picture of neighborhoods and culture in transition. Revenge is among our species' oldest narratives, and it plays out with more intelligence than usual here -- the conclusion is certainly more satisfying than the final act of Million Dollar Baby [2004].