Film Review - Gran Turismo
Images courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing.
Gran Turismo is a video game film that has a great universal message: no matter how impossible your dreams may be, they can still be achieved - and the first step to that dream is buying a PS5.
Jann Mardenborough, played by Archie Madekwe, is a young man who’s an avid Gran Turismo player. However, his family sees this as him being directionless. One day, his gaming skills win him the chance to be a part of Nissan’s GT Academy, where the goal is to turn gamers into professional race car drivers. For the remainder of the runtime, the film doesn’t really have many surprises as Jann goes through the trials of his early racing career.
Without a doubt, the strongest element of Gran Turismo is the performances. From the second he’s introduced, it’s not hard to relate to Madekwe’s portrayal of Jann. It feels like a star-making performance as he ups the emotional stakes,dealing with real trauma as you see him struggle with being an unprepared underdog. Meanwhile, Djimon Honsou and David Harbour are in supporting roles, playing Mardenborough’s worried father and his quippy grizzled trainer. They play characters that you would expect them to play at this point in their careers, but it doesn’t mean that they’re not amazing at it. Orlando Bloom is probably the weakest appearance, as Nissan’s marketing exec. who comes up with the idea for GT Academy. It’s clear what his role is in the film but Bloom doesn’t seem to try and elevate the material he’s given in comparison to the efforts of the rest of the cast.
Director Neil Blomkamp and his crew shot this film with such confidence. There’s a distinct contrast from the intimate moments of Jann’s life through the use of shooting on handheld cameras, to the sweeping crane shots of the high octane races. It’s clear that Blomkamp wants to try and capture that intensity of being in the driver’s seat as most of the film’s shots during its races look and feel so practical. However, specifically in the latter half of the film, it’s pretty apparent to see that Blomkamp and his DP loved drones as overused drone shots become nauseating by the time you get to the final race.
Aside from good performances and cool filmmaking, that’s all Gran Turismo really has going for it. The plot is incredibly predictable as its sports-film-underdog formula is really obvious from the get-go. While it’s really impressive and inspiring as a true story, you don’t feel any sense of danger for Mardenborough’s character, obviously wanting him to win, but it’s more or less a given that he will. The numerous attempted homages to the Gran Turismo games are distracting, taking you out of the film’s reality to remind the audience that this real life story wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Playstation.
Gran Turismo is screening from Thursday 10th August. For tickets and more info, visit the Sony Pictures Australia website.