“Gran Turismo” Review
Based on a true story, “Gran Truismo” stars Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenboruough, a player of the “Gran Turismo” games who was given the opportunity to professionally race.
With films and series like “The Last of Us,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Sonic the Hedgehog,” we’ve seen a recent surge of video game adaptations that have been giving these titles the respect that they deserve. While technically based on a game, “Gran Turismo” is much more of a sports biopic by combining the classic tropes of an underdog story with the visual style of the “Gran Turismo” video games. It’s a fun ride that manages to capture the energy of the game while also being an entertaining story that you’re amazed really happened.
In the early 2010s, Jann Mardenboruough (Archie Madekwe) is a young college dropout from Cardiff, Wales who longs more than anything to be a racecar driver. However, his family doesn’t have the means to enter the world of racing so Jann plays “Gran Turismo,” an incredibly accurate racing simulator game, to get the thrill of racing. When a marketing executive (Orlando Bloom) at Nissan creates a program to have the best players of “Gran Turismo” in the world trained to compete in professional racing, Jann is selected and trains with a former driver turned engineer (David Harbour) to join this world. With incredible odds against Jann as well as resentment from the entire racing community, Jann must prove that he’s worthy of this incredible opportunity.
If you’re like me, then you don’t really watch professional racing whether it’s NASCAR, Formula One or any of the other famous races like The Pikes Peak Hill Climb or The 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, there’s a level of admiration I have for these athletes. After all, as the film points out, when you’re driving a racecar, the G-force you experience is twice what an astronaut experiences on liftoff and the speed you’re driving is insanely dangerous.
What “Gran Turismo” excels at is conveying the passion that Jann has for racing and this fuels the interest of the audience. Archie Madekwe is quite likable and you really feel for him as he tries to explain his desire to race and how much he loves “Gran Turismo” for its realism but everyone else, including his family and trainer, see him as a kid who just fools around with video games. Gradually, he begins to win people over when they see that not only has the game really helped him understand cars and racing but that Jann is completely dedicated to this life.
Both Orlando Bloom and David Harbour are also entertaining as these guiding mentors for Jann with Bloom bringing this mad visionary persona to his role as the guy who looks at gamers and thinks “they can handle being inside to a high-speed machine of death.” Harbour is much more of a hard-edged cynic who views Jann and his fellow sim-racers as “scrawny gamer kids” and has to be convinced that there’s more to them than sitting in front of a computer.
What I admire about “Gran Turismo” is how this could have been a big commercial for the games by capitalizing on a true story but it’s instead a fun sports film. In fact, Jann playing the game quickly vanishes from the story when he's selected to race an actual car for Nissan. What is kept throughout the film is the visual style of the games which are worked into all the racing sequences. For instance, in the wide shots of the race track, there’ll be a big number over Jann’s car to indicate what place he’s in. Jann also fantasizes that he’s back at home playing “Gran Turismo” when he’s behind the wheel of a car, indicating that this is how he stays cool during the high-stakes energy of a race.
Not only do the sequences of Jann competing have the style of a video game, but they also have all the visceral feeling of a real race, capturing the incredible stakes of this whole situation. While I knew the film was based on a true story, I had no idea just how much of a trial by fire Jann went through including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Even I, as someone who doesn’t pay attention to racing, know how unbelievably challenging this race is and it’s unbelievable that he competed in this.
Director Neill Blomkamp’s vision of the film is well-realized with the racing sequences all being tight and suspenseful, especially when you know the real-world consequences of being on the track. As the film goes on, I found myself becoming more drawn into Jann’s story and wanting him to succeed. It’s also impressive that the real Jann Mardenboruough did his stunt driving for the film because it is stunning.
While “Gran Turismo” is a good underdog story, there are elements that might turn people off. This biggest offender of this is the conflicts between Jann and other drivers which feels too much like a Saturday morning cartoon. While I’m sure the racing world initially resented Jann for being a gamer, the racers that seem to loathe Jann the most just feel like they were from a script instead of reality. I found the tension between Jann and the pit crew felt more realistic since they clearly don’t respect him but they’re still doing their job to help him with his skills and his attitude winning them over. Had the other racers in the film had this mindset, it would have felt more like a realistic drama instead of a big-budget popcorn film.
As is, “Gran Turismo” is exceedingly crowd-pleasing and entertaining with likable characters and a strong sense of action that will satisfy fans of sports biopics. It certainly has the right kind of energy to wrap up this season of summer blockbusters.
