Movie Review: GRAN TURISMO

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: August 25th, 2023 / 08:37 AM

Rating: PG-13
Stars: Archie Madekwe, David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Takehiro Hira, Darren Barnet, Djimon Hounsou, Geri Halliwell Horner, Joshua Stradowski, Daniel Puig, Maeve Courtier-Lilley, Thomas Kretschmann
Writers: Jason Hall and Zach Baylin, story by Jason Hall and Alex Tse
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Distributor: Sony/Columbia
Release Date: August 25, 2023

There are two big surprises in GRAN TURISMO. One is that, despite the movie being essentially based on the PlayStation game of the same title, main character Jann Mardenborough, played by Archie Madekwe, is a real person, who really grew up in Wales, really learned the basics of race driving on a PlayStation, and really competed on the Nissan-PlayStation team we see in the film.

The other big surprise is that, although it does hit all the expected beats, GRAN TURISMO is enjoyable and effective.

After informing us that this is “based on a true story,” we are told it’s twenty-five years ago. Jann is college-age but refuses to attend, much to the chagrin of his father (Djimon Hounsou). Jann is obsessed with the PlayStation “Gran Turismo” racing game, which allows players to construct their own vehicles and choose a facsimile of any number of famous courses. Players can compete against others, or simply against their own best times. Jann is king of the local videogame arcade, and on his home computer as well.

Over in Japan, English Nissan marketing man Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) has flown out to company headquarters to make a pitch. Interest in actually driving cars, and thus purchasing them, is down among the younger generation. However, eighty million players are driving virtually in the “Gran Turismo” game. Perhaps Nissan can sponsor a competition, where top players from around the world take part in a real-world racecar training camp, with the five best assembled as a team to be entered in real races – driving Nissan sports cars, of course.

Director Neill Blomkamp and writers Jason Hall and Zach Baylin, working from a story by Jason Hall and Alex Tse, do their best to make all of this as suspenseful as they can. Even viewers who don’t know anything about racing or PlayStation or Nissan can tell where this is going; if the team washes out, there’s no movie. Likewise, there’s only one reason to introduce us for a mainstream film to introduce us to Jann as GRAN TURISMO does.

But this becomes gratifyingly unimportant. We’re engaged with how all this plays out, partly because of the snazzy visuals, and partly because the filmmakers are aware they have to hold our interest. We wind up learning a few things about race drivers, such as why they have to be in top athletic condition, and which skills can and cannot be honed on a PlayStation.

Madekwe has conviction and just the right amount of anxiety as Jann (the real Jann Mardenborough is one of Madekwe’s driving stunt doubles). David Harbour is exactly what’s required as the team’s tough but gold-hearted trainer Jack Salter and Bloom balances him well as the enthusiastic but corporate-minded Danny. The prickly chemistry between the two actors and their characters is such that it’s easy to imagine a compelling feature about their ever-shifting dynamics.

As it is, GRAN TURISMO won’t be mistaken for a character study by anyone, but it still feels like it is populated by actual humans. Even if we’re familiar with the shape of the track, it’s still an honestly entertaining sports movie.

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