After a career spent toiling away in the sci-fi genre, vainly trying to equal his cracking debut, District 9, it seemed that Neill Blomkamp was taking his shift into other genres seriously. After all, not only is his new movie, Gran Turismo, a sports movie that attempts to immerse us in the world of professional race car driving; not only is it a true story of overcoming adversity and achieving your dreams; but it’s also, technically, a video game adaptation that’s been lifted from the acclaimed driving simulator.
While it might seem that Blomkamp is somewhat over-compensating by smooshing three genres into one after leaving the world of politically relevant science fiction behind, the choice to tackle this particular video game movie is boosted by the inspired choice by telling the remarkable true story of Jann Mardenborough, a young man who won the ability to go and race cars for real thanks to the titular game.
So without further ado, let’s get to the starting grid.
Jann Mardenborough doesn’t have a bad life living in Cardiff, Wales, but he yearns for something more than working in a clothing shop and weathering the disapproving glances of his video game-hating, football fanatic father. One thing that makes car fanatic Jann happy, however, is the driving simulator Gran Turismo and not only is he good at the game, he’s bloody good. Good enough to qualify for an exclusive, one-of-a-kind, competition that aims to take the best players in the world and train them to race for real with the ultimate prize for one of them to compete at a professional level.
The potentially foolhardy idea has been cooked up by Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore and to take on the controversial responsibility of training a bunch of nerds to travel at speeds at an excess of 300 mph without killing themselves is Jack Salter, a rumpled racing guru with a typically tragic past and as the grueling training continues, Jann is gradually chiseled into becoming the winner.
However, the switch from the training camp to the real thing is rife with speed bumps with the main problem being that literally no one, not even Jann’s own pit crew, thinks he can possibly last and worse yet, other drivers think that this gimmick is disrespectful and mentally mark a big fat bullseye on the young man who is desperately trying to realize his dreams. Doubt, fear, pressure and a bloody great crash chips away at Jann’s psyche until he’s forced to put everything he’s worked for on the line on a single race at Le Mans, can Jack’s grumpy, but valuable advice be enough to see this young gamer finally make the podium?
As Gran Turismo seems to be split into a trifecta of complementing genres, I guess it might be proper to address the film on each of those terms as, while watching it, I genuinely feel that your overall impression of the movie shifts somewhat depending on what type of movie you’re expecting. For example, those coming to Gran Turismo as fans of the video game will probably come away with a dopey smiles on their faces as the meta approach to the genre (also seen in the recent Tetris) allows them to have their cake and eat it. Not only does Blomkamp obviously hold the franchise in insanely high regard, but he smartly links the real-life driving to the simulator by having the current race placings appear above the cars just like in the game or have Jann visualise his racing line like he’s still glued in front of his console. As a result, Gran Turismo comes out favourably when compared to films like Need For Speed or Max Payne and continues to fly the flag for the recent surge of above-average video game movies we’ve seen over the last couple of years.
However, when we switch to looking at the movie in terms of a true life biopic, matters become a little less inspiring. Archie Madekwe is generally quite good as the gamer made good and the constant, deer-in-headlights look he has at all times not only helps make him pretty easy to feel for, but these a refreshing lack of whining or obnoxious displays of brattish behavior. However, despite the constant road blocks the movie puts in his way, from a truly impressive wreck to Moore’s crisis in confidence in his driver’s nerve, it never truly feels like Jann’s going to fail in his task. Speaking of Moore, Orlando Bloom (who’s looking more like Dominic West every day) attacks his role with all the restraint of Nic Cage playing P.T. Barnum in panto and is so annoying, he almost takes attention from the bizarre sight of Djimon Hounsou and Geri Halliwell playing a married couple in Wales.
So with a win in the video game column and a loss in the biopic, it’s left to the sports movie aspect to be the decider and frustratingly, it proves to be a neck-and-neck tie between the legitimately bracing, racing sequences and the rather dour bits inbetween. Blomkamp and his screenwriters seem to be following the sports movie playbook step by predictable step which ends up giving us something akin to a post modern Days Of Thunder without the unbearable ego of a young Tom Cruise. However, two things unite to make Gran Turismo an ultimately rewarding, if fairly derivative watch and the first is, unsurprisingly, the searing, racing sequences which fuse video game iconography, actual racing and some stunning drone/helicopter footage to give the film the pomp and circumstance in deserves – there’s nothing quite like watching the satisfying thunk of a gear change timed with a well placed needle drop to get the heart pumping. The other winning aspect to the formula is the equally dependable presence of David Harbour who inhabits the trope of craggy mentor like he was born to it and the fact that any of the drama works at all comes primarily from him.
However, while the story has its enjoyable quirks (Jann uses Kenny G and Enya to chill himself out and counteract the pressure), Gran Turismo turns out to be one of the most blatant displays of product placement I’ve seen since that skit from Wayne’s World. Literally not a single shot goes by without either Playstation, Nissan, Sony or Puma emblazoned on it and while I realise that proffesional motor racing is hardly subtle in real life when it comes to advertising, it’s weirdly distracting when it happens to this extent in a movie, even when the background is a 300mph blur.
While the transition between killer racing sequences and drab drama can often be as jarring as riding with a driver with shitty clutch control, it’s still arguably Blomkamp’s second best movie and if you approach the film more from the realm of video game movies, it crosses the finishing line in decent shape.
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