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Gran Turismo is a welcome palate cleanser after the ongoing Barbenheimer box office takeover, but it’s destined to be forgotten amongst the chaos.
Sony’s latest effort to bring its iconic PlayStation IPs to screen takes an admirably fresh approach, using Jann Mardenborough’s (played by Archie Madekwe) unique true story as inspiration.
Mardenborough began his motorsport career in the place you’d least expect – his bedroom, watched over by disapproving dad Steve (Djimon Hounsou).
His knack for PlayStation’s highly sophisticated racing simulator makes him the perfect candidate for Nissan’s GT Academy, which aims to turn the world’s best Gran Turismo players into racing professionals.
While its ludicrous premise has attracted derision from movie fans in the run-up to its release, most of what follows actually happened.
Of course, there are plenty of ‘movie with a capital M’ embellishments to pick up the pace, including Stranger Things’ David Harbour as reluctant trainer Jack Salter, who predictably softens up to his young racing protégé.
Harbour quite handily steals each scene as Salter, who appears to be fictional, though his paper-thin backstory as a has-been driver with one more shot at the big time is often patience-testing.
It’s ultimately Mardenborough’s story that shines through – while Madekwe suffers from some rising star clunkiness in the first act, it eventually becomes clear to see why he was picked to portray the groundbreaking driver.
Previously known for roles in Midsommar and Apple TV+’s See, the up-and-comer is most at home behind the wheel and is lucky his occasionally awkward delivery has Harbour’s charismatic ease to bounce off of.
Meanwhile, Orlando Bloom is serviceable as GT Academy’s mastermind Danny Moore, but it’s Honsou who might just be the film’s secret weapon by grounding the emotional throughline with a rigid vulnerability.
Returning from a slight slump in his resume with another turn at blockbuster filmmaking, director Neill Blomkamp is still struggling to reach the heights of his 2009 debut, District 9.
A rare foray into the real world for the sci-fi aficionado, Gran Turismo’s visual style remains uninspired throughout, with on-screen video game flourishes only serving as distractions that slow down or, in some cases, bring the action to a deadening halt.
Impressively, the cast is indeed driving real vehicles for many of Mardenborough’s lightning-fast races, but the film flounders when it comes to delivering a genuine 200-mile-per-hour experience.
Top Gun: Maverick this ain’t – although cutaways to shifting pistons and cylinders help the action feel visceral, the same level of fluidity just isn’t there and Madekwe often gets lost behind the windshield.
Several clumsy drone shots throughout only serve to diminish the vehicles’ speed and highlight some of the ropier VFX, too, probably not what Michael Bay had in mind with his attempt at action innovation with the camera tech in last year’s Ambulance.
Despite Blomkamp’s disinterested driving, the pivotal races are still rousing enough by the final lap that Mardenborough never becomes hard to root for.
Moreover, racing fans may already know the surprising trajectory of the pro’s career, but for the rest of us, an out-of-nowhere development helps Madekwe take his performance to the next level and kicks off the third act with unforeseen grace and depth.
Much like PlayStation Productions’ first big-screen effort, 2022’s Uncharted, Gran Turismo is unlikely to convert any new fans.
Barbie, the smash hit of the summer, is still attracting cinemagoers in pink droves, and it’s unlikely they’ll be swapping their pastels for racing leather any time soon.
Still, it’s certainly an improvement on Tom Holland’s bonkers adventuring last year and has just enough in the tank to win over the cynics.
Only at cinemas across the UK and Ireland from 9th August, 2023
