Replies

The ending is definitely a let down for fans of Eastwood stereotype characters. That said it was fitting for the story of the Kolwalski character.

I don't agree that the ending was fitting for the Kowalski character. I just don't see how the route Kowalski chose was any more moral or nearly as effective as the route that Clint fans expected him to go. Also, I didn't like the portrayal that a Korean War vet would feel he had anything to atone for, especially with regards to any particular ethnic groups. Sure, war can get nasty, but failing to go to war can get nasty, also, and I bet most people of North Korea wish that the Americans had fought more, not less. So, why then would Kowalski or any other veteran have anything to atone for, especially to that racial group? It just seemed to have more than a whiff of Hollywood self-loathing.

And, in practical terms, Clint's character chose a course of action that was far less certain in its outcome than the course that we wanted him to take. In other words, just for an ostentatious display of self-sacrifice, Kowalski chose a method that was far less certain to protect his neighbors than the straight-forward method, so how is it more noble?

Very good point. I have to admit that I was disappointed and would have rather seen Kolwaski terminate, with prejudice, the gang members.

I didn’t see the Kolwaski character apologizing for anything he did in Korea, or his beliefs.

Kolwaski was sick, dying, and wrestling with the dilemma of how to neutralize the gang without undoing his mentoring of the young man. It wasn’t noble...just his out.

I think the message is more for a younger audience, how not behave, the wages of vapid texting and gang mentality, as it were. And that maybe there
are untold stories of valor and the work ethic of their grandparents lives, if only they would take the time.

Sure, war can get nasty, but failing to go to war can get nasty, also, and I bet most people of North Korea wish that the Americans had fought more, not less. So, why then would Kowalski or any other veteran have anything to atone for, especially to that racial group?

Because at the core whether justified or not, war forces people to kill other human beings, something that we are taught not to do from the time we are young. Ask any vet and they will tell you of how they are haunted by memories of death (whether it be men they killed or comrades they saw die).