Gran Turismo

STORY: Based on a true story, ‘Gran Turismo’ follows the life of a young gamer whose life changes forever when he gets a chance to be a part of the real-life racing world.

REVIEW: When you have a story of an underdog in a sports drama, it usually makes for a riveting watch, even with a few things done right. And it looks like director Neill Blomkamp knows this only too well. His protagonist Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), is a passionate virtual racer, whose only dream in life is to become a real-life racing champion. His father Kazunori Yamauchi (Takehiro Hira) like most fathers, isn’t a fan of the sport nor does he believe that his son can convert his gaming genius into anything sustainable, let alone slug it out in a real race track. But Jann's life shifts gears in the blink of an eye, when an over-enthusiastic marketing professional from Nissan Motors, Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom), comes up with a bizarre idea. He is on a mission to find the next racing track champ from a bunch of virtual racers of the popular game called Gran Turismo. He onboards a reluctant, condescending and foul-mouthed failed racer Jack Salter (David Harbour) to coach the young racers.

Blomkamp and his writers (Jason Hall, Zach Baylin and Alex Tse) drive their story at a breakneck speed, giving us some genuinely unpredictable twists and turns. There is quite a bit of adrenaline pumping excitement here especially, when Jann is pitted against world champions in flashy sports cars on some of the world’s most popular and perilous racing tracks.

Archie Madekwe is an apt choice to play the confident, yet at times self-doubting and vulnerable youngster, who is overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the opportunity. Rooting for him comes naturally. David Harbour plays Jack Salter with a quintessential frown on his face at all times, which frankly gets annoying very early on. Orlando Bloom’s character is also quite caricaturish, and hard to be taken seriously, as a top executive of a leading auto giant.

However, the racing track scenes zoom past almost every bump along the way. There are quite a few make or break races, shot and executed with finesse by cinematographer Jacques Jouffret. They keep the audience on the edge with some truly shocking moments. The music and background score (Lorne Balfe and Andrew Kawczynski) compliment the urgency where required. In an era where some films tend to burden themselves with technical jargon, ‘Gran Turismo’ wisely avoids this pitfall. Instead, it swerves towards the populist route and races ahead with an inspiring true story that pulls at heartstrings and ignites the dreamer within.