Clint Eastwood: The '00s
Space Cowboys
Blood Work (August 9/02)
 Clint Eastwood has been cranking out thriller after thriller over the last few years (True Crime and Absolute Power), and while he'll never be credited with reinventing the genre, he does know what it takes to create an effectively suspenseful and involving storyline. Though it'll never be compared with earlier Eastwood thrillers like In the Line of Fire and the Dirty Harry series, Blood Work is nonetheless an effective and surprising police drama revolving around his character's efforts at solving a brutal case involving a serial killer. Eastwood the director likes to take his time in telling stories, and this is certainly no exception. The story unfolds at a pace that's probably more realistic when it comes to solving crimes. We watch as Eastwood's Terry McCaleb investigates various clues, some leading nowhere. As he works his way towards revealing the identity of the killer, he begins to make some rather startling discoveries (even though he may be done with the past, the past sure isn't done with him). And while it's fairly easy to guess who the killer is (that beard is a fairly shoddy one), that in no way detracts from the enjoyability of the film. Blood Work does, however, feature yet another romance between Eastwood and a much younger woman. And while it didn't bother me too much, the audience I saw the film with couldn't resist giggling and groaning. It would have made far more sense to pair Eastwood up with the character of his doctor, played by Angelica Houston. While even she isn't as old as he is, they are a lot closer in age than the woman he eventually winds up with. And the conclusion is so action packed, it doesn't really fit in with the laid-back pace of the rest of the film. Still, Blood Work is an effective and clearly old-school type thriller that should appeal to older audiences and those who are tired of super fast-paced summer flicks.
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Mystic River
Million Dollar Baby
Flags of Our Fathers (March 7/07)
 Flags of Our Fathers marks filmmaker Clint Eastwood's first war-themed effort since 1986's Heartbreak Ridge, and although the movie suffers from an overlong running time and an unmistakable air of familiarity, the various performances and Eastwood's expectedly intriguing directorial choices make it easy enough to overlook such deficiencies. The film follows three soldiers (Ryan Phillippe's John Bradley, Jesse Bradford's Rene Gagnon, and Adam Beach's Ira Hayes) as they raise the flag at Iwo Jima and subsequently find themselves at the center of a worldwide media circus (Barry Pepper, Paul Walker, and Robert Patrick have small roles as fellow fighters). In employing a non-linear structure - the action oscillates between the battlefield and the soldiers' trials and tribulations back home - screenwriters William Broyles Jr and Paul Haggis have infused the proceedings with a thoroughly uneven vibe that ultimately prevents the film from stepping out of the shadows of thematically-similar forebearers such as Patton and Saving Private Ryan. That being said, there's certainly no denying the impact of the central characters' tumultuous efforts to adjust to their newfound fame - with such sequences anchored by the uniformly superb performances (Beach is particularly strong here). In the end, Flags of Our Fathers remains an entertaining yet strangely forgettable piece of work - ensuring that the film will likely never be added to the pantheon of great war flicks.
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Letters from Iwo Jima
Changeling
Gran Torino (January 19/09)
 It's ultimately difficult to mistake Gran Torino for anything other than a Clint Eastwood film, as the director has infused the proceedings with as exceedingly deliberate a sensibility as one might've anticipated - yet there's little doubt that Eastwood's riveting performance proves instrumental in capturing (and sustaining) the viewer's ongoing interest. The filmmaker stars as Walt Kowalski, a retired Korean War vet whose desire to be left alone following his wife's death is shattered with the arrival of a boisterous Hmong clan next door - as he finds himself slowly-but-surely drawn into a unexpected friendship with the troubled Thao (Bee Vang). Although Nick Schenk's screenplay contains a veritable bevy of less-than-subtle encounters and sequences, Gran Torino ultimately comes off as an affable endeavor whose old-fashioned, easy-going atmosphere effectively compensates for its lack of surprises. Eastwood's remarkably grizzled turn ensures that the film is at its best when focused on his character's exploits, as there's something undeniably compelling about Walt's entirely predictable transformation from irascible hermit to helpful neighbor. The end result is an effort that'll never be confused for one of Eastwood's better offerings as either an actor or a director, admittedly, yet it inevitably goes without saying that his mere presence here elevates the film on a consistent basis and proves effective in smoothing over its various deficiencies.
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