Just like the live-action adaptation of “Need For Speed,” Neil Blomkamp’s “Gran Turismo” is a racing picture based on a true story that lacks the much-needed fuel or a functioning engine to elevate its underdog tale tropes and crowd-pleasing moments. Even the sporting sequences lack the flair and intensity to immerse you in the full-throttle races, leaving the viewer without much to hold on to.
Motorsports are Not My Cup of Tea
I have never been that completely interested in cars and the mechanics behind them. Some of my friends are racing aficionados and car junkies. But, honestly, I don’t have remote interest in such things. I just want a somewhat nice-looking car that takes me where I want to be. There’s no need to showcase or speed — we aren’t in the “Fast & Furious” franchise. On occasions, they talk to me about the different car brands and their new models, the newly added motor, lowering the suspension, or any other change in their “babies.” And I just black out immediately because I do not care about those things in the least. Not even in a videogame format have I been able to digest it. I played for a couple of hours in “Forza” before quitting the game entirely.
The only one I considered fun enough was a “Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift” arcade game in a local bowling alley. When racing is presented on the big screen, I find it a bit more exhilarating. Ron Howard’s “Rush” was one of the few that got me to feel the adrenaline spikes of the races. Things tend to worsen when directors want to intertwine video games with cinema. A few years ago, “Need For Speed” kicked things off with a false start and ended as a knockoff of the Vin Diesel-led franchise. And it has now been followed by “Gran Turismo,” the acclaimed PlayStation rival of the aforementioned Xbox racing game.
The Overused Classic Underdog Story
Neil Blomkamp is in the driver’s seat and ready to go early on with this underdog tale. But he takes a couple of wrong turns, leading to mediocrity induced by generic and crowd-pleasing-dependent story beats. The movie “Gran Turismo” tries to tell is not based on the game itself. Instead, Blomkamp wants the world to learn about Jann Mardenborough (played by Archie Madekwe in the movie). He was a real-life racer who won Le Mans after being picked up by team Nissan during a “Gran Turismo” videogame competition. The Nissan and Sony teams united in selecting a trio of the best “Grand Turismo” players in the world to see if their skills on the console translated to the real stuff behind the wheel. I didn’t know anything about Jann or his journey (and for the longest time, I thought this film’s story was original).
Archie Madekwe in Gran Turismo (Photo: Sony Pictures).
It made me curious since this scenario was something I couldn’t have imagined as a former hardcore gamer myself. Nevertheless, Blomkamp takes this real story to the big screen via the underdog story persona. It’s a tale as old as time, arriving with a specific formula that leaves one desiring more. The actual story it is based on is more uplifting than the film itself. Every scene is calculated with precision to follow the run-of-the-mill “believe in your dreams” tale. Coincidentally, it never tries to reach any new ground.
Neil Blomkamp hasn’t recovered the little stylistic flair and original vision he had during his early works, primarily “District 9,” which I’m not a fan of but admire its ambitiousness. And it doesn’t seem like his latest helps him go in the right direction. Instead, it has him going around in circles like the main character in the various tracks he spins his wheels in. The film loses the potential power of its dramatic sensibilities due to the lack of detail in each story, relying on the classic tropes of an underdog tale of success and reinvigoration. The overly-dramatic narrative intertwined with the racing sequences creates a foggy blunder that Blomkamp, unlike James Mangold in “Ford v. Ferrari,” can’t manage. The film deals snoozy dramatic dialogue and lackluster high-speed cars in an equal balance.
A Racing Film Without a Functioning Engine
Whether he is demonstrating one or the other, you feel tired and unengaged. You just want the races to end. It ends up being quite repetitive. Not only the constant shifts from scene to scene are procedural, but also, ultimately “Gran Turismo” reminds you of a movie that reminds you of yet another movie that leads to a third film in the chain. Because of such, he mangles something together that doesn’t entice the viewers watching. He sacrifices ingenuity and artistry in its totality. The only place where he tries to do something different is by implementing a visual and storytelling aesthetic that blends gaming with the cinematic format in a way that hasn’t been seen in other films based on video games. He makes the main character envision himself behind a real race car while playing videogames. And he also does vice-versa when he’s on the actual track.
Archie Madekwe in Gran Turismo (Photo: Sony Pictures).
Blomkamp also takes bits and pieces from the game as easter eggs and references its visual style. At first, it is a bit clever since most videogame adaptations somewhat depart themselves from their original medium to have a more cinematic feeling. As the film goes on, these references turn into gags due to their constant use of them in the most random sanctions of the races we see. “Gran Turismo” isn’t the worst of its kind. There are a couple of worse racing movies out there. However, it is one of the most vacuous and uninspired in recent memory. That’s why it is more frustrating than the rest. At least there are a couple of lousy racing movies with some flair or memorable moments.
Since this one is straight from the book, you don’t get any of that. We just see million-dollar glamor that only speaks its budget out loud rather than adds to the end product. You get the classic drill sergeant-like character who turns into a mentor later on, the overly mean rivals, and the wink at the camera lines meant to be seen as uplifting or funny remarks. It has everything in the book to a frustrating degree. A film can follow a specific formula and not be entirely awful. Still, the crux of this significant issue is that you need to properly grasp the story, its themes, and a unique cinematic language to do so. Unfortunately, Blomkamp isn’t close to having it.
“Gran Turismo” hits U.S. theaters on August 25th, 2023.
