Reel Review Roundup

Gran Turismo (PG)

Directed by: Neill Blomkamp

Starring: Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe, David Harbour

Review by: Julian Wright

The hugely popular racing video game takes a lap on the big screen, but in an interesting and novel twist, the game itself is not adapted, but a true story involving it.

Marketing hotshot Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) makes a wild pitch to his bosses: launch a Gran Turismo video game competition and train the top players to be real life race car drivers.

Remarkably, they give the OK.

Passionate gamer Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), who doesn’t even have a drivers license and whose father disapproves of the time he dedicates to his gaming, wins a spot in the race car drivers boot camp for gamers.

The timid teen must defeat all odds, and over-come his lack of confidence and doubters, to rise through the ranks of the competitive and dangerous sport.

Taking on this true story is a clever way to honour the game without going down the obvious route of adapting it.

The story is almost too unreal to believe, which makes it an engaging watch, however this leans into soap opera family melodrama with dialogue and relationships that seem to have been spat out of an AI.

Where Gran Turismo soars, however, is in the racing scenes.

Director Blomkamp creates some of the most thrilling track sequences, heightening the tension and dazzling with some nifty camerawork (the dizzying moves through the stadiums are like a roller-coaster ride) and remarkable sound design.

The revs with leave you vibrating with glee.

This entry was posted on August 10, 2023 at 6:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.