Who could’ve predicted the early 2020s had PlayStation finally bringing some of their most popular franchises to life? The television side has shown signs of life with The Last of Us (I should finally start watching soon) and, most recently, Twisted Metal. It’s debatable how the film adaptations turn out since last year’s Uncharted made money but received mixed responses. Now we have director Neill Blomkamp taking Gran Turismo to the tracks.

It’s not simply a racing game; Kazunori Yamauchi created it 25 years ago, and it’s acclaimed as one of the best racing simulators ever. Even though I enjoy racing games, I don’t recall ever playing any of them back when I was obsessed with playing PlayStation for hours. But besides being a video game adaptation, this one is also widely promoted as being based on a true story. And honestly, I didn’t have much anticipation for Gran Turismo since it doesn’t seem to be anything exceptional from the marketing. But do we all remember the last video game movie based on a racing franchise? That was Need for Speed, and it wasn’t anyone’s favorite nearly a decade later. This will be incredibly crowd-pleasing for those who enjoy the rush of driving fast autos. From someone who’s not that familiar with the property, this wasn’t exactly at my speed, at least for me.

What’s the Story: In Cardiff, Wales, we follow Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), a college dropout who is an expert at playing “Gran Turismo” in his room with a passion for being a professional racer himself. His former footballer father, Steve (Djimon Hounsou), doesn’t understand how playing video games will make a living, while his mother, Lesley (Geri Halliwell-Horner, aka Ginger Spice), seems more resultant. That dream might come sooner than he thinks when Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) pitches the risky idea to the company in Tokyo: A contest for gamers to see who’s the best “Gran Turismo” player for the chance to be a real professional race car driver sponsored by Nissan. Knowing the ins and outs without batting an eye, Jann made it in the GT Academy and is joined by other players worldwide. They’ll be trained by chief engineer/ former driver Jack Salter (David Harbour) to get them into shape and prepare them for a dangerous lifetime opportunity for Jann himself in this sport.

I was unaware that these events occurred, and it would intrigue me for someone unfamiliar with every aspect of automobiles. While Mardenborough is the most successful in his career, he wasn’t the first winner, as I found out later. Based on how everything came together to be motivating enough to show that playing video games is a good use of time, I felt this would go differently. Part of me didn’t know how this would translate to the big screen since I don’t believe the game had much of a story. But putting the real-life tale of Mardenborough threw some curiosity into the mix. You see this as a tried-and-true underdog journey with the main character facing the challenges of rising to the top, applying what he knows from the game of being in reality when driving a car going over 350 mph.

As mentioned before, Blomkamp directed this, and even before this came out, I’ve always put him in the category of “One-Hit Wonder Directors.” We all remember that South African filmmaker started his career strongly with District 9, one of the best original sci-fi films of the 2000s that was a sleeper hit at the box office and was nominated for a few Academy Awards. Since then, it’s been a struggle to reach back to the top, with Elysium labeled as an underwhelming follow-up to some and Chappie a disappointing mess that I don’t know how anyone thought was good. Would he be my first choice to make Gran Turismo? Not really, because I remember when Joseph Kosinski was attached almost a decade ago. This pace change allows Blomkamp to switch from the sci-fi realm to the grounded action genre, displayed in having us believe anything is possible in a sport where risk is the biggest benefactor. 

The racing sequences were amusing as we saw the game’s visuals come to life and show where Jann was on the tracks. However, Blomkamp’s direction and Jacques Jouffret’s cinematography eventually lose their style and prevent the action from gaining momentum. Saying they weren’t the highlight of a movie called Gran Turismo and can’t call it fantastic is saying something. It also doesn’t help when we all know we will compare it to better racing films I love, like Rush or Ford V Ferrari. But coming from someone who doesn’t consider himself much of a gamer anymore, there can be some intensity when watching the climax, which sees Jann taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Coming as no surprise, David Harbour’s performance as Jack Slater is a blessing in disguise for keeping the film alive with every scene. Only he is suited as the fierce of motivation telling it how it is and still carrying around a Walkman, listening to some classic Black Sabbath. The bonding experience he eventually shares with Jann discovers they have more in common than they thought. Archie Madekwe was as good as Jann, but his portrayal as the protagonist was dull. This is a likable character who will triumph over the other contenders and prove the doubters wrong. That could be the fault of the writing. 

Interesting Fact: The real Mardenborough served as Madekwe’s stunt double. 

But even though this isn’t reinventing the wheel through its 135-minute runtime, the cliché nature of the film is the problem. The screenplay has two Oscar-nominated writers, Jason Hall (American Sniper) and Zack Baylin (King Richard, Creed III), and what we got is the basics of every cliché sports movie imaginable despite being based on actual events. This should have been a captivating subject to get behind, with a fascinating account that most people were unaware of. Nothing was unexpected about that, being Hollywood and all, because I understood every stage of starting from the bottom of failure, finally getting good, a setback, and a potential comeback. The first half, especially, was going through the motions of introducing the basic concept and feeling like endless product placement ads for both PlayStation and Nissan. 

Apart from Jann and Jack, the supporting cast’s overall development was lacking. The emotional connection is broken, whether it’s not knowing much about Jann’s rivals or competitors, Bloom’s Danny Moore entirely, or because we don’t pay enough attention to the interaction between Jann and his family. In addition, another movie squanders Hounsou’s abilities. Even this relationship between Jann and his love interest promises enough, only to realize it doesn’t push the narrative forward. 

What might be the center of a controversy involving the film is how they dealt with the tragedy at the Nürburgring Nordschleife that saw Jann crashing his car, claiming the life of a spectator. They used that aspect of Jann’s life to motivate him later, but even that didn’t sit right with me since it happened two years after he competed at Le Mans. Maybe it was what the real Mardenborough put in his story, but it will be an unnecessary move.

Overall, Gran Turismo sets its sights on being an inspirational underdog story. But though it benefits from David Harbour’s performance and sometimes well-executed race sequences, the cliches cut the opportunity short to consider this sports drama an out of nowhere surprise of the summer. For all I know, it could’ve been worse. Even so, imagining a better drama in my head that doesn’t follow a conventional checklist is okay. I suspect this will be the edge-of-your-seat entertainment for those to get the gears going by the time it comes out.

Grade: C+

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Release Date: August 25, 2023

Runtime: 135 Minutes

Rated PG-13 for intense action and some strong language.

Distributions: Sony/ Columbia Pictures