“Gran Turismo” comes from Neill Blomkamp, director of science fiction films such as “District 9” and “Chappie.” The film follows Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), a teen who went from expertly playing the titular racing game to real-world professional racing.
Blomkamp’s interests in visualizing technological advances seemingly makes him a perfect candidate to direct a video game film adaptation. Blomkamp’s personality shines through during the driving sequences where the visual stylings of the Gran Turismo video game overlay onto the real world.
However, “Gran Turismo” makes for an odd video game adaptation, serving primarily as a Jann Mardenborough biopic. Much closer to inspirational sports dramas like “Rocky” than the average video game flick, a larger portion of “Gran Turismo” centers around the conflict surrounding Jann and his doubtful backers Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) and Jack Salter (David Harbour) than on his actual time on the track.
The drama mostly consists of people doubting Jann’s abilities to drive and his car knowledge in general, followed by Jann looking sad or flustered before proving doubters wrong to their bemusement or eventual delight. The film delivers an average underdog story without adding much embellishment or texture besides the strangely amusing aspect that everyone hates Jann specifically for being a gamer and bullying him accordingly. Eventually, more serious drama enters the plot, grounding the film in the darker realities of high-speed racing. Madekwe and Harbour rise to the task of portraying the gravity of the situation, but those dramatic scenes do feel abrupt and make the themes of perseverance and following one’s dreams feel more muddled than complex.
To its detriment, “Gran Turismo” tends to look more like television than a multimillion-dollar theater release. Most of the film showcases bland handheld cinematography that doesn’t build upon any specific visual ideas, and outside of the aforementioned races, the compositions seem like afterthoughts designed solely to deliver story beats that fill out a thinly stretched 135-minute runtime. Additionally, Jann’s character barely progresses, as he appears to succeed through sheer tenacity and by utilizing a skill set he’s shown to possess from the very beginning. This leaves much of the drama feeling like the filler arcs in a TV series that allocated its budget to the wrong areas.
While not a terrible film, “Gran Turismo” offers audiences nothing special. Gaming fans may get a kick out of seeing this real-life story play out on the big screen. However, for those without specific knowledge of the central story, the film feels like little more than a cash-grab.
2 gamers in a society out of 5
