Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours, 15 minutes
Director: Neil Blomkamp
Writers: Jason Hall, Zach Baylin, Alex Tse
Quick Impressions:
Movies would sell more tickets and get better audience reviews if they all included a Q&A with the production team afterwards. Live Q&As don’t happen too often around here, but a pre-recorded session like the one attached to this “sneak preview” advanced screening of Gran Turismo works for me, too. I love Q&As, AMAs, basically any opportunity to hear people talk about their work.
I’m not sure why extras like this aren’t rolled into every screening of all films. Imagine I wanted to write a bad review of the movie. I could never do it now—not when the people who worked to make the film describe their vision and goals in such emotionally invested terms.
I hadn’t planned to write a bad review of this movie, anyway. It’s a good film, frankly a better movie than I expected to get in late August. (I don’t know if what I’ve come to expect from release schedules even applies anymore. The world is undergoing rapid changes. I don’t know if that’s a post-pandemic environment or a reality of middle age. Either way, life is turning into one big, ever-evolving surprise. When you ask friends in LA if they’re safe after the earthquake, you don’t expect to go on, “Stay safe in the hurricane!” But here we are.)
For weeks I’ve been busy cleaning, reorganizing, and redecorating the entire house. And the past week has been particularly busy with school schedules, band events, doctor’s appointments, miscellaneous meetings, and, of course, writing. So I didn’t know if I’d get a chance to review a new movie.
Friday night, we watched Hitchcock’s Under Capricorn at home for the first time, and I considered writing about that. I’ve spent most of the weekend thinking about something my daughter said when she joked that the big showdown with the housekeeper came after she had already quit. (It’s like the opposite of quiet quitting. She theatrically quits but then drifts back to the house to enact her slow-working evil designs—all without ever being officially rehired. She’s just hanging around. And then after they basically catch her at attempted murder, she just wanders out again. I’d love to see a remake of the film in which the housekeeper A) dies in the middle instead of quitting B) does not actually exist. The events of the movie wouldn’t change. The housekeeper would simply be either a hallucination or a ghost. (That might make it a little bit like The Haunting of Bly Manor, but it would also make Ingrid Bergman’s character a self-gaslighter like me, and I’d like to see that represented on screen.)
At any rate, I wasn’t too excited about any new movies this weekend, until we noticed a special sneak preview of Gran Turismo with bonus Q&A afterwards. (We don’t get to ask the questions, just to witness them.) Even though Neil Blomkamp’s movies are often too depressingly dystopian for me to enjoy fully, I do consider him a filmmaker of quality. Plus based on the theatrical trailers, the premise of the film slightly intrigued me. It looked like a mash-up of The Last Starfighter and Ender’s Game, except it’s a true story (that I had heard nothing about). Nissan and PlayStation did team up to sponsor a GT Academy, where talented virtual drivers entered a rigorous training program to become professional racecar drivers. I haven’t played much Gran Turismo, though I’m in favor of film adaptations of video games on principle, and I do think Sony makes both good games and good game shows. (Plus, I had a string of heavily used Walkmans that sustained me through my turbulent teen years.) In the end, it was the fact that the sneak preview with Q&A existed that got me to the theater. I’d probably watch an advanced screening + Q&A of anything.
The Good:
The Q&A is highly enjoyable, and I wish they’d show it after every screening. From the Q&A, I learned that the real Jann Mardenborough performed the stunt driving for his character in the film. That’s fantastically cool. He’s just thirty-one, and he’s already helped produce and do stunts for his own biopic released by a major studio. Hearing him talk about the experience quickly made most criticisms I had about the film fade from my mind. He seemed so happy.
The Q&A also made me think, “Why am I not a movie critic?” because the person asking the questions immediately made two comments I had been thinking myself. But, oh well! As Jann Mardenborough points out, you can’t do everything.
I was also highly amused to hear Neil Blomkamp (and others) say that he was drawn to the project because he usually writes depressing material, but he’s been wanting to direct something hopeful. Tonally, this film is a radical departure from his usual stuff.
If you’re a fan of the Gran Turismo game franchise, then you should definitely see this film. I haven’t played since 2010 when the game caused an enormous domestic dispute. I perhaps overreacted to my inability to play the game correctly, despite my careful efforts to follow my husband’s instructions. Turns out, my controller, though brand new, was broken. It was defective out of the box. There’s a moment in the film featuring broken equipment that made me recall this incident vividly. You have to believe in yourself. I didn’t. I assumed I was defective. Jann makes the right call and trusts himself.
If you like the game–or if you’re just a car enthusiast–I can’t imagine you wouldn’t like the film’s visuals. That’s where I was most reminded of Blomkamp’s other work. When Jann races at his console, he imagines a real racecar all around him. We get to see it, too. Then in some scenes when he’s driving the actual car, he imagines himself playing the game. The way this looks reminded me a lot of the images of various tech in Elysium.
From the Q&A, I know that the racing scenes feature mostly practical effects—real drivers in actual cars. Given the speed, stunts, and danger involved, this is fairly impressive. (Kind of like the most recent Top Gun.) I’m not always the most visually oriented person, and I sometimes have trouble following scenes of intense action. (I get sensory overload.) But I find these races easy to watch and an absolute pleasure to listen to.
The sound is by far the strongest element in this film. I’ll confess there were moments when I wasn’t sure I found the movie quite exciting enough, but aurally, I was always hooked. (In the end credits, I noticed that post-production sound was done at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City. I thought, “Of course it was! Ever since my brief experiences on Jeopardy!, I’m predisposed to praising things related to Culver City. Maybe I’m hypnotized.”)
Seriously, though, the sound is the most praiseworthy component of the film. For one thing, a huge plot element of Gran Turismo is the question, “Can the video game experts actually compete against trained, professional racers in real cars?” And, of course, real cars have loud engines that easily distinguish them from their virtual counterparts. Sound is not usually an aspect of a film I focus on, so trust me, this is conspicuously well done. My husband fully expects Oscar nominations for sound, and he may be right.
I like the film’s performances, too. I found Archie Madekwe (who plays Jann) inordinately charismatic. He brought the perfect mix of passion, enthusiasm, innocence, optimism, and frustration to the character. Madekwe makes Jann easy to root for and a pleasure to watch. By far the film’s most sympathetic character is David Harbour’s Jack Salter. Harbour’s good in this role, which is not surprising because the character is so sympathetic and gets so much screentime and development. There’s also a nice part for Orlando Bloom that requires charisma without much range. (I’m not saying he couldn’t show more range, just that the part doesn’t demand it.)
And Djimon Hounsou is always good playing a passionate, frustrated father.
Best Scene/Best Action Sequence:
I absolutely love the scene when Jann’s car starts flipping up in the air. I’m no racing expert, but cars are not supposed to do that. When that starts happening, you immediately say to yourself, “Oh my God! This is very bad!” Geri Haliwell Horner gets a wonderful moment when she reacts to this while watching the race at home. (And I got an equally dramatic moment during the end credits when I whispered to my husband in shock, “That was Geri Haliwell!???!” I don’t know how I didn’t recognize her! She looks just like herself. I just wasn’t expecting her.)
I’m also a fan of the way the deciding race at the academy plays out.
Best Scene Visually:
All of the races are fairly visually engaging. I do particularly like the well-edited sequence showing how Jann gets his racing license. We don’t see anything we don’t need to see. I especially like his first race. The outcome of the race (i.e. where he places) does not remotely describe what that race was like as it was happening. I enjoyed this aspect of the narrative.
And then, of course, in that final race, we get payoff that we’ve been waiting for since the earliest scenes of the film. (I have heard people argue that driving faster doesn’t make a significant difference to trip time, and that is blatantly untrue. Watching that last race reminded me of how I used to “drive the gaps,” when I was running late. It makes a huge difference. Is it safe to do with kids in the car? No. Jann’s strategy here also reminds me of how I used to ghost race on Mario Kart at night so that I could fall asleep more easily by reliving the races in my mind until I “followed the shortest route to sleep.”)
The Negatives:
I know this is a true story, and I find the real-life Jann so wholesomely delighted by the movie. I celebrate his success. Next time I drink champagne, I’ll toast his victory. I agree with the producers that this is a time when people are desperate for messages of hope. And this movie delivers that. Blomkamp compares the film to Rocky, and it is like Rocky.
That’s my real complaint. It’s too much like Rocky. It’s too much like every inspirational sports movie ever made. (I guess that’s a kind of twist. From Blomkamp, I would have expected something that made me feel more like Million Dollar Baby. I’ve never seen him make anything full of such pervasive optimism.)
Here’s the thing. The film’s premise is evocative of The Last Starfighter and Ender’s Game, but it’s a true story. It’s real. For me, it doesn’t quite deliver on the promise of the premise. I went in wanting to see an underdog’s sports story like none I’ve ever seen before. Instead, I saw one exactly like everything I’ve seen before.
I don’t think there are enough genuine highs, lows, and moments of suspense in the film. Now, there is some suspense. Someone in the Q&A mentioned that each race has its own narrative, and that’s true and commendable. The film’s editing is also good. The races are presented in such a way that keeps the pace pretty brisk and prevents needless repetition.
Now this is tricky because it’s a true story. I’m sure Jann watched the film and relived the intensity of those experiences he actually endured. So for him, I’m sure the film feels unbelievably intense, gripping, high-octane, possibly even suspenseful by a non-traditional definition. But for viewers who didn’t live the story, there’s not much to distinguish it from a typical story of this kind. In fact, the story beats and character development are so predictable, it’s a bit disquieting. (I started to think, “Can nothing ever be new? Is human behavior really so limited?”) I mean what happens in this movie is what always happens in these movies. David Harbour’s coach character has the best part, but I mean, he’s playing the guy who always shows up in these stories. He was on his way to stardom himself, but something went wrong. He grows attached to the young athlete and helps develop him. He begins to hope again through him. A tragic setback happens. The coach doesn’t want the young athlete to repeat the same mistake he made. In the beginning, the coach is skeptical and demanding. In the end, no one believes in the athlete but the coach. This happens in every sports movie!
How do you convey to an audience the true, full intensity of a seemingly familiar story? I’m struggling with this in my own writing. It’s difficult to write about events you’re involved in, hard to know if you’re truly giving the audience what you think you are, or if you just feel it yourself.
Also, although I’m not a huge racing fan, when we get to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, I’ve seen that race. I remember that from Ford v. Ferrari. For me, that film was significantly stronger overall than this one. And I felt the intensity of that race much more when Christian Bale was the driver.
I guess my biggest complaint is that I wanted to feel more from the movie. The characters are sympathetic, and the achievements are commendable. But, especially considering the high intensity of the sport, I never felt the threat or the thrill or the surprise. It all feels kind of even—except maybe for that crash scene that I love.
I also found all my cynicism emerging as I watched. I kept thinking things like, “If he doesn’t get back in the car and race again, he’s a quitter, huh? Well, how many people does he have to kill not to be a quitter? Basically the only way he can prove himself is to drive around in circles for no reason risking the lives of himself and others? Just…indefinitely? And the goal is…to exploit a new market to sell more cars? Why doesn’t Orlando Bloom drive the car a while?” The goals in something like Oppenheimer seem a little easier to understand. (“We have to make an atomic bomb before the Nazis do.” Got it.) But this is just my moroseness leaking out. You know? “Life is just going around and around in circles risking death to sell something to someone!” I kept having such unhelpful thoughts—until I heard “La Marseillaise” (which is always stirring) and then heard the real Jann speak so enthusiastically at the end of the movie. Humanity in the flesh always makes more sense than humanity in the abstract. On paper, very little that we do on Earth makes any sense. But when you interact with other people and see their enthusiasm, you appreciate the true meaning in the moments.
Overall:
Gran Turismo would be a great film to pair with another sports film for classroom use. It’s a solid addition to the existing catalogue of racing movies. If you’re a fan of the video game franchise, or you just like fast cars (especially the noises their engines make), then you should enjoy this movie. It’s a heart-warming underdog story featuring great stunt driving, interesting visual effects, good acting, and amazing sound. If you can, catch a screening that includes that Q&A.