For anyone outside of the loop on what exactly “Gran Turismo” is, here’s the simple breakdown: it’s a film based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, played by Archie Madekwe (“Midsommar,” “Saltburn”), a young man who earns a shot at becoming a real race car driver after competing in the virtual GT Academy racing series in the video game Gran Turismo. The film is based on a true story involving the video game series it also takes its name from but is not an adaptation of any story within any of the games it shares its name with. Still following?
All jokes aside, despite the film’s somewhat rocky marketing campaign, which included all manner of things like changing the title to officially be “Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story” to creating a comedically detailed movie theatre standee that simply reprinted the entirety of Variety’s review of the film, the film itself manages to rise above all of that.
Somehow, despite previously only crafting high-budget science fiction blockbusters, director Neill Blomkamp (“District 9,” “Elysium”) has managed to marry his love of whiz-bang filmmaking tech with a surprisingly big heart at the center of the film. Madekwe helps make the initially abrasive Mardenborough a protagonist easy to route for by the film’s end. It helps that the film’s writers Jason Hall (“American Sniper,” “Thank You For Your Service”), Zach Baylin (“Creed III,” “King Richard”), and Alex Tse (“Watchmen (2009),” “Wu-Tang: An American Saga”) stick fairly close to the real story and the tropes of the “inspirational sports movie” genre to craft something that’s well oiled, if not particularly groundbreaking.
That rudimentary story is bolstered not only by Madekwe’s performance, but by his two mentors in the film: Jack Salter, a former race car driver played by David Harbour (“Stranger Things,” “Black Widow”), and Danny Moore, an executive at Nissan who came up with the GT Academy, played by Orlando Bloom (“The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”). Harbour plays Salter as an aged mechanic with a chip on his shoulder who hates the entire idea of the GT Academy, but his gruff exterior helps to develop a charming rapport with Madekwe and ends up being the heart of the film. Bloom is more disposable, but still does great work as the “executive with a heart of gold” helping to make sure the entire project isn’t canned before Mardenborough can show his stuff.
Blomkamp’s experience with blockbuster filmmaking comes in handy with the race sequences, which are just spectacular to watch. As you fly though each race, the camera weaves and zooms around each car, putting you right in the action in an exhilarating way. The up close and personal shooting style helps to make even the most routine and predictable races feel fresh and exciting.
It’s as if every person working on this film is attempting to make something so earnest and so lacking in cynicism in spite of the corporate branding of the movie itself. It creates a bizarre concoction; an underdog racing story with the branding of a multi-billion-dollar video game franchise plastered all across it.
“Gran Turismo” succeeds almost in spite of itself. Thanks to a main trio committed to the earnest of the film and some great technological filmmaking techniques, it’s a movie that strengthens its cliched plot thanks to those aspects. It’s not the most original or finely crafted thing in the world, but it’s hard not to smile and cheer a little bit as Mardenborough fulfills his dream. It isn’t a podium finish, but it definitely races by with flying colors. 4/5
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