Gran Turismo
August 11th, 2023
MOVIE: GRAN TURISMO
STARRING: ARCHIE MADEKWE, ORLANDO BLOOM, DAVID HARBOUR, DJIMON HOUNSOU
DIRECTED BY: NEILL BLOMKAMP
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 2 STARS (Out of 4)
The general makeup of Gran Turismo is equal to a stew of current Hollywood movie conversations. Here is a movie, based on a video game, based on a true story, with the added spice of sports cliches, and the battle of AI versus actual human beings. All of those things can be riveting in spurts but what should be a pleasant surprise quickly becomes contrived and tedious. It’s not all awful, in fact, it will become a matter of what you are willing to forgive, but Gran Turismo loses control of the steering and fails to get back on track.
The story begins with Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom looking slick), who has a far-out idea of taking a collection of the greatest Gran Turismo video game players in the entire world, putting them into an F-1 Racing driving camp, and seeing if they can make it as a real circuit racer. That person becomes 18-year-old Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), a shy kid, who has dedicated himself to being a great gamer. Even if it is his passion, his father (played by a way-too-good Djimon Hounsou) views it as silly games, but when Jann wins the competition, it becomes his chance to prove all the naysayers wrong, including his own race leader Jack Salter (David Harbour).
For some, Gran Turismo may be a collection of surprises, but for me, it became a cornucopia of distractions. First of all, this is directed by Neill Blomkamp, the director of District 9 and various other science fiction films, making something that feels like it could have been directed by anybody. The screenplay by Jason Hall, and Zach Baylin, and the story by Alex Tse follows the standard guide to sports movies. Nobody believes in the kid, he proves he can make it, but when he gets to the big leagues he has a major setback, only to start his comeback to prove them wrong again. Most of those sports movie standards could be forgiven if the lead performance from Madekewe wasn’t so stiff. No matter how slick Bloom looks or the solid dad-like comfort from Harbour, our hero is constantly missing the mark. With a better lead actor, Gran Turismo would be in better gear.
With a gaudy runtime of two hours and fifteen minutes, it’s not entirely bad, as the direction from Blomkamp is relatively flashy. Fans of the game or those more accustomed to the true story behind it will applaud, but most of the narrative structure is fast-moving to mask any flaws. The racing sequences are well shot but that is also built around lightning-fast editing and a steady pace of montage-scene-montage storytelling. This format becomes repetitive and predictable, leaving me feeling numb until the film’s undoubtedly thrilling last fifteen minutes.
From an entertaining standpoint, Gran Turismo may be fine to some but it wasn’t enough for me. It’s not even a race car driving thing, because I love films such as Days of Thunder, Rush, and Ford V Ferrari, all of which capture the glory of the sport in a romantic fashion. Here, there are far too many distractions, including wooden dialogue, contrived notes of inspiration, and a visual structure that feels more like a commercial for a car instead of an uplifting story. Gran Turismo has plenty of speed but it left me wanting to slam on the breaks.
GRAN TURISMO IS PLAYING IN THEATERS WORLDWIDE FRIDAY AUGUST 11TH, 2023.
2 STARS
Written by: Leo Brady
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