Gran Turismo Review – Inspiring Sports Underdog Biopic Disguised as a Video Game Movie

Neill Blomkamp’s Gran Turismo is a movie based on the popular PlayStation racing game series of the same name. It’s no secret that video game movies usually have a negative stigma attached to them for their often subpar quality, so there is no surprise if one would scoff at the notion of Hollywood adapting a racing simulator game series with no narrative onto the silver screen.

However, it is unfair to call Gran Turismo a direct video game adaption as it’s less of one and more of a dramatized retelling of real-world British racer, Jann Mardenborough’s underdog journey into professional racing. That said, Director Neill Blomkamp plays it loose with Jann Mardenborough’s Cinderella story, overdramatizing some elements for a more grandiose cinematic showcase of an otherwise formulaic sports underdog tale.

From Gamer to Racer 

As mentioned previously, Gran Turismo is based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, who indeed got his racing career kickstarted by GT Academy, the brainchild of Nissan marketing exec Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) who aimed to give the best Gran Turismo players an opportunity to be trained into real-life professional racers.

Actor Archie Madekwe played the role of Jann Mardenborough, bringing a humble innocence to the character and making him someone to root for over the course of the film. The movie explores Mardenborough’s dream to become a professional racer, a passion driven by his love for the titular video game, much to the disapproval of his father (Djimon Hounsou), a relatable parent-child dynamic that unfortunately is not presented all that much in the film.

For the majority of the movie, we are also acquainted with David Harbour‘s character Jack Salter, a coach brought in by Moore to train the gamers in GT Academy. Salter is a grouchy old dog who was reluctant towards the whole concept of gamers having potential in professional racing careers but later turned a believer after his time spent with Mardenborough. The on-screen relationship between him and Mardenborough is one of the central highlights of the film as they both developed a likable father-son-like bond and David Harbour managed to play the role charismatically while maintaining the character’s grumpiness and delivering quirky remarks towards the gamers.

Speed Racing Cinematography

While Gran Turismo hit the requisite of a decent sports underdog movie, it at times feels like a high-budget montage of scenes as though the filmmaker could not decide the pacing in each story arc. The film started off slow and dragged on for too long for its own good. However, when it finally reached the point where Mardenborough joined the GT Academy, scenes began to play out cut by cut where the timeline started to jumble up and many events felt undercooked as they get skimmed through.

Additionally, the movie also included a romance subplot between Mardenborough and his lover that felt forced and added nothing to the overarching story, not even having her as an emotional pillar for Mardenborough during his lows.

That said, one highlight of the movie is the racing action in which Blomkamp had done a terrific job walking a fine line in depicting the car races realistically while having some cinematic flair to them, cutting from various shots while having deafening engine sound blaring through the cinema’s speakers. The shots are kept mostly tastefully as the camera moves from overhead drone views to close-ups of the racers’ sweaty stressed-up expressions, immersing audiences into the moment.

To not have the audience forget that they’re watching a video game movie, Blomkamp also incorporated many of the video game visual elements into the race sequence but kept them in a way that is unintrusive and adds to the overall intensity of the moment. Coupled with an excellent choice of soundtrack, the entire race sequences have me at the edge of my seat as I watch Mardenborough’s will and focus to win the race.

Verdict

Overall, I have my enjoyment out of Gran Turismo but it’s not breaking any new ground with its predictable by-the-numbers sports underdog story that just so happened to have a video game as the driving force for the plot. The movie can also feel like a glorified commercial for the racing game series, even having a special sequence to show Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi (Takehiro Hira) playing his own creation. Not to mention, the countless blatant product placements that may annoy some folks.

As said, Gran Turismo also plays it loose with Mardenborough’s story so it is not exactly a great history lesson as many moments were greatly dramatized for cinematic effect but anyone who is into high-octane motorsports will have their enjoyment as Blomkamp has set the stage for racing sequence cinematography, with its intensely immersive camera work.

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