Gran Turismo

Videogame movies are largely an untapped potential in Hollywood, despite some recent success stories (see: The Last of Us on HBO). When Gran Turismo was announced as the next-up videogame adaptation, it was met with a sense of confusion because it's a very straight-forward driving simulator. As a gamer, I've never become attached to the PlayStation exclusive because it lives in a realm of being "too real" that it's honestly not all that enjoyable, especially with something like Forza Horizon as an alternative. 

Turns out that the story isn't about the game itself (thankfully) and about the true life story of a Gran Turismo afficionado becoming a real-life racer - and a successful one at that - which is actually a bit insane. This angle immediately makes Gran Turismo a little more interesting both as a gaming and a sports film, even if it follows and hits many of the same tropes you'd expect. It's clear that director Neill Blomkamp, who's had a very up-and-down history, wanted this to be an epic at nearly 2.5 hours long. In lots of ways it does feel larger than you'd expect, but it's biggest blemish is that it's just too long. The beginning in particular is a drag with mundane scripting and character interactions before our protagonist, Jann, makes it into the GT Academy. Other moments throughout similarly threaten to hinder the overall film's impression (an unnecessary date in Tokyo comes to mind) because the film truly sings when it's on the track. 

Gran Turismo is a movie where mileage will vary...pun intended, I guess...of how much one likes racing and cars. The game has an annoying knack for being obsessed with rather boring cars (example: one of the iterations has over 300 Nissans in it), but luckily the film provides us some gorgeous beauties from other makers like Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Audi, and McLaren. I'm definitely into exotic cars, so seeing these specimens is a delight and provides more excitement to me than general audiences. Fancy cars or not though, the racing sequences are thrilling and far better than I expected. The special effects are quite fantastic 95% of the time and more often than not, we're looking at real cars on a real track with some talented camera work. If you're into racing or cars at all, the racing portions of Gran Turismo are worth the price of admission alone. 

And even some of the cliches are fine - they're what we come to expect from sports films - thanks to solid performances from Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe, and especially David Harbour who becomes the tough beating heart of the whole thing. If you can deal with the boring first 20-30 minutes, there's a very exciting 105 minute racing film on the other side. 

Rath's Review Score | 7.5/10