Finally, an Underdog Sports Movie where the doggedly determined heroes include a couple of huge international commercial brands. Forget about Rocky and the Karate Kid, we have PlayStation and Nissan in our corner!
This is one of the problems with the intermittently exciting and well-filmed but formulaic and relatively uninvolving video game/race car biopic “Gran Turismo.” Based on true events, this is the tale of how gamer Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) made the impressive leap from manning a steering wheel plugged into a console in his bedroom to competing in the Super GT, Super Formula, Formula 3 European Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans against some of the finest real-world racers on the planet.
It’s an amazing story brought to the big screen with considerable poetic license, but director Neil Blomkamp (“District 9,” “Elysium”) and screenwriters Jason Hall and Zach Baylin sprinkle in so many favorable product placement references to the PlayStation game and to Nissan’s motorsport division that the film often plays like an extended corporate promo video.
When the teenage Jann gets a new steering wheel for the Gran Turismo racing simulator game in his bedroom, it’s treated with such reverence we almost expect the package to contain the Dial of Destiny. We learn Jann is a socially awkward and not particularly ambitious young man who cares about only one thing: spending nearly every waking hour mastering Gran Turismo. (When Maeve Courtier-Lilley’s Audrey approaches Jann at a party and asks about the Gran Turismo videos he’s watching on his phone, he curtly corrects her and says it’s not a game, it’s a racing simulator, man! This is a good way to hold onto your virginity and/or start a new chapter of celibacy in your life.)
As you might expect, Jann has a stern and traditional father in Steve (Djimon Hounsou in a thankless role), a former footballer who now works a backbreaking job in the railyards and is deeply frustrated by his son’s obsession with a childish game. When is the boy going to take some responsibility and make his way in the real world!
In the meantime, an ambitious and slick Nissan Europe executive named Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) is pitching “a marketing extravaganza,” i.e., the creation of the GT Academy, which will take the very best Gran Turismo players from around the world and give them the opportunity to participate in bona fide racing events.
Danny turns to a page in the sports movie playbook to find the obligatory Crusty Mentor With a Tragic Backstory in David Harbour’s Jack Salter, who had the potential to be a great driver himself back in the day before a life-altering event put him on the sidelines. For the last many years, Jack has been toiling in anonymity as an underappreciated mechanic — but how can he turn down the opportunity to go all Mickey Goldmill/Mr. Miyagi/Sgt. Emil Foley on these green and naïve hotshots who have no idea what it’s like to get behind the wheel of a high-powered racing car and risk everything for a shot at immortal glory or some such thing?!?!
As Jann emerges as the champion of the GT Academy and makes the transition from simulator to IRL competition, we get at least a half-dozen racing sequences, filled with overhead drone visuals and driver P.O.V. shots and clever graphics and camera angles that at times replicate, yes, the Gran Turismo simulator experience. (Director Blomkamp also seems to pay tribute to the Steve McQueen movie “Le Mans” with a certain “push-in” camera move.)
Unfortunately, Archie Madekwe’s Jann is a bit of a stiff who is surrounded by more interesting and colorful characters (played by more experienced and, frankly, more skilled actors such as Bloom, Harbour and Hounsou). There’s a half-hearted attempt to create a villain in the handsome and cold Nicholas Capa (Josha Stradowski), who drives a gold Lamborghini sponsored by Moët & Chandon (ooh, class differences!) and believes Jann not only doesn’t belong on the track, but he poses a danger. (This is borne out when a spectator is killed after Jann loses control of his car and it literally flies off the track and lands in the crowd — a tragedy that happened in real life and is represented in the movie.)
The real-life story of Jann Mardenborough is quite remarkable, and it’s pretty cool that Jann actually served as the stunt driver for his onscreen doppelganger. Alas, “Gran Turismo” ultimately feels like a tribute to marketing campaigns and brand ambassadorships more than “Rocky” on the racetrack.
