Gran Turismo, 2023.
Directed by Neill Blomkamp.
Starring Archie Madekwe, David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Darren Barnet, Geri Halliwell, Djimon Hounsou, Daniel Puig, Josha Stradowski, Thomas Kretschmann, Maeve Courtier-Lilley, Emelia Hartford, Pepe Barroso, Sang Heon Lee, Maximilian Mundt, Mariano González, Harki Bhambra, Lindsay Pattison, Théo Christine, Nikhil Parmar, and Richard Cambridge.
SYNOPSIS:
Based on the unbelievable, inspiring true story of a team of underdogs – a struggling, working-class gamer, a failed former race car driver, and an idealistic motorsport exec – who risk it all to take on the most elite sport in the world.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Gran Turismo wouldn’t exist.
While Gran Turismo is based on the popular PlayStation franchise from the game development studio Polyphony Digital, a distinction is made that these games are racing simulators. That’s important to note since there is a strong chance if you bring up Gran Turismo around someone, they will tell you they didn’t necessarily find themselves hooked due to the drastic amount of understanding required to customize a vehicle properly and the meticulous detail that goes into driving the racecar. These games weren’t created with arcade physics in mind, yet they weren’t strictly for gearheads, as they also provided learning tools for anyone who did want to amass knowledge.
Directed by proud gamer Neill Blomkamp (who has also unsuccessfully lobbied for years to be granted the opportunity to make a Halo film), this cinematic adaptation of Gran Turismo also has a refreshing approach for an adaptation of intellectual property (especially one here with no narrative to speak of beyond winning races and collecting racing licenses) in that it’s about the cultural impact the series has had on society, including the true story of one of the top virtual racers in the world who went on to become one of few selected for an in-person program intended to mold them into an actual racer.
The concept is so ludicrous I had no idea that it came from real life, and that’s coming from a gamer. Simultaneously, watching a film push back against the notion that video games are useless tools that provide no real-world skills is inspiring. Unfortunately, the script from Jason Hall and Zach Baylin (with Alex Tse receiving a story credit) only knows how to explore that through melodramatic family drama with dialogue that rings false.
Archie Madekwe overacts his way through most scenes as Jann Mardenborough, the gamer, much to the chagrin of his father, Steve (a wasted Djimon Hounsou who really deserves better projects), who is afraid that his son is wasting his life away with no real achievable dream. A project from Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom), believing that showing the world a transition can be made from virtual to reality will allow the company to woo an untapped consumer demographic finds Jann as their poster child. Jann’s mentor is David Harbour’s Jack Salter, once an exceptional racer himself who entered an early retirement, tired of training stuck-up, know-it-all racers routinely disregarding his wisdom, although he also is justifiably skeptical if what he has abandoned that position for can actually be accomplished.
A crash occurs during one of these training courses where Jack insists Jann didn’t commit to a turn, whereas the young upstart is confidently positive that the brake was grazed. It’s a small detail that one would seemingly be able to believably pick up on from a knowledge of cars and these racing simulators, aware of how a vehicle might react even if they have never physically felt the effects of the faulty part. Jann has driven cars before, so it doesn’t solely come down to Gran Turismo experience, but the ability to step into a real-life racecar and pick up on something like that from years of playing the racing simulators is unquestionably the correct way to bridge that gap between game and movie while getting to the essence of what these racing simulators are capable of teaching.
However, that turns out to be one small cog that solely exists to get Jann and Jack on the same page, with the latter starting to believe he can take the young man from gamer to racer. The rest of Gran Turismo indulges in generic sports clichés without distinguishing itself; aside from other PlayStation and Nissan brand logos, a similar movie could be made without the Gran Turismo license. Hell, you probably have seen similar movies. Formulaic underdog plotting takes over once it’s done with the early gaming aspect.
Some of Gran Turismo is also a misguided gamer wish-fulfillment fantasy, such as the pointless romantic subplot between Jann and his crush Audrey (Maeve Courtier-Lilley) that is just…here. There is also a horrific racing incident (that did actually happen) attempting to convey the dangers of racing in the real world, but the fallout and aftermath happen so fast, none of it registers as harrowing or compelling. However, credit to Neill Blomkamp, who does stage the wreck sequence as something that starts off as a stylish glimpse of airborne height that quickly transforms into a shocking and frightening crash. The races themselves are exciting for the most part, occasionally morphing between live-action and racing simulators as a means to express Jann’s vision.
The winning aspects are consistently undone by a rush to get to the next leg of the story rather than exploring the drama authentically. Then again, maybe these screenwriters can’t, considering there’s an unbearable helping of pandering gamer speak. “You mad, bro?” Well, yes, a little bit; this Gran Turismo adaptation has a real-life story and the makings of something uniquely special, but full-speed wipes out into run-of-the-mill sports storytelling.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
