Gran Turismo (12A)

Dir: Neill Blomkamp

Cast: David Harbour, Orland Bloom, Archie Madekwe, Darren Barnet, Geri Halliwell Horner, Djimon Hounsou

With slick racing sequences and a crowd-pleasing underdog story, Gran Turismo is more than just a glorified advertisement for the iconic racing simulator.

There has been a plethora of video game adaptations over the years, most of which have come under intense scrutiny. Since all the way back in 1993 when the absolutely abysmal Super Mario Bros. was released, many filmmakers have attempted and failed in bringing iconic video games to life on the big screen. Some have had more success than others, in fact the very recent movie adaptation of everyone’s favourite Italian plumber was a box-office hit, and is currently the highest grossing movie of this year so far, despite mixed reactions.

The major hurdle faced by the movie industry when it comes to adapting games is interactivity. The appeal and excitement of video games as a media platform is the ability to take control and drive the narrative forward yourself, once this is taken away the levels of immersion are greatly reduced. Most modern video games tend to be more narrative based, which should make them more accessible for the big screen. However, story driven video games can range from ten to thirty hours in duration, and condensing the story and worldbuilding into a couple of hours would be a challenge for the most accomplished filmmaker. This has seen the birth of TV shows such as The Last of Us and The Witcher. With much more freedom in terms of episodes and seasons, these shows have the flexibility to flesh out storylines and characters, and this is why they are seen as two of the most successful video game adaptations to date.

The first thing that should be noted about ‘Gran Turismo‘, is that it is not your standard video game adaptation. The movie is not a rehash of any characters or story elements of a video game, instead it is the retelling of the quite remarkable true story – inspired by the influential racing simulator of the same name. It tells the story of Jann Mardenborough, a teenager from Cardiff, who was one of the best Gran Turismo players in the world. His exceptional skills at the game saw him compete in a series of Nissan-sponsored video game competitions, that eventually led to him becoming a professional race car driver.

The film is directed by South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp, who rose to prominence in 2009 with his sensational debut feature, District 9. Based on his own short story “Alive in Joburg“, District 9 was a critical success, racking up four nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture. After this rise to stardom, Blomkamp was highly sought after, and was lined up to direct the fifth instalment in the Alien franchise before the project was ultimately scrapped, resulting in the release of Ridley Scott‘s Prometheus instead. Since his impressive directorial debut, Blomkamp’s career has been on a downward spiral with theatrical releases of increasingly poor quality and equally poor box office returns. ‘Gran Turismo‘ was not just seen as an opportunity to break the video game adaptation curse but also a possible return to form for a once promising filmmaker.

The opening scene of ‘Gran Turismo‘ is by far the least blunt depiction of marketing in the whole film. It informs the audience of the origins of video game franchise, and the legacy built by Kazunori Yamauchi when he created the original game in 1997. Whilst there are several scenes that do come across as an expensive promotional campaign for Gran Turismo and Sony, none of them are quite as self indulgent as this opener.

After the brief advertisement for the video game of which this movie is based, we are introduced to aspiring boy racer Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe). Jann spends most of his free time in his room playing Gran Turismo, much to the annoyance and disapproval of his father, Steve (Djimon Hounsou). Steve consistently reminds his son that racing in a video game is not the same as real life, and encourages him to focus on finding a ‘real’ career path.

We are then introduced to ambitious Nissan executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom), as he pitches the idea of recruiting Gran Turismo players into the professional racing circuit. He theorises that this would help attract an untapped market of potential car buyers for Nissan. After getting the green light from the corporate bigwigs, Danny appoints salty, veteran driver Jack Salter (David Harbour) as his racing engineer for the upcoming GT Academy.

After winning a European qualifying race online, Jann is relocated to Silverstone where a Rocky-esque training montage plays out as Jack gets his scrawny gamer kids into shape. Despite facing fierce competition from academy rival Matty (Darren Barnet) and scepticism from both Jack and Danny regarding his racing and marketing skills, Jann sets out to prove his doubters wrong as he fights to fulfil his childhood dream of becoming a professional race car driver.

Despite it following all the conventional plot points of your average sports underdog story, ‘Gran Turismo‘ manages to bring a sense of intrigue to what is a genuinely incredible true story. After spending years being a gamer kid myself, the fact that someone has had their virtual dreams become a reality is quite astonishing – and I am somewhat jealous. While there are major liberties taken with the events throughout Jann’s career, it all adds up to an engaging, cohesive and air thumping experience.

The cast all do a solid job to get you invested in this rags to riches story, with Archie Madekwe being the standout. He manages to convey the youthful naivety of your typical British teenager. With his head in the clouds whilst in the safety of his own home, but then comes across as a deer in the headlights when he first gets behind a wheel. Seasoned veterans, Orlando Bloom, David Harbour and Djimon Hounsou all play their parts as the initially cynical but eventually supporting key figures in Jann’s career. The only member of the cast I did not buy into was Geri Halliwell Horner , who portrays Jann’s mother. I was taken out of the film a little but whenever she appears on screen, as she was unable to match the emotional range of her fellow actors. I am curious to know if she got the role solely based on her real life connections to the world of racing, as the former Spice Girl is married to the current Team Principal of the Red Bull Formula One Team, Christian Horner.

The real strength of the film though comes from Blomkamp’s breathtakingly crafted racing sequences. The success of the film relies solely on these action sequences as they are the heart and soul of not just the source material of the video game, but also the real life driver himself. A combination of swooping drone shots and quick, clunky edits of the internal mechanics of the car give a great sense of peril that comes with being a race car driver. The great sound design fully immerses you into these high octane races, with the echoing roars and screeches of the tracks contrasting with the eerily quiet interiors of the vehicles as they speed along at 200 mph. This really puts you in Jann’s seat during the races, and really brings the sense of isolation. Despite professional racing being a team effort, with: mechanics, engineers and sponsors all playing their part, it is effectively the driver whose life is at risk if anything is to go wrong.

‘Gran Turismo‘ may have the chassis of old school storytelling, but with a fascinating real life element driving it forward, and Neill Blomkamp behind the wheel, it is an exhilarating and cinematic crowd-pleaser and not just a cheap marketing ploy by Sony, as many might think.

Gran Turismo is now showing in Cinemas