Gran Turismo Fires on All Cylinders

Imagine being told time and time again that you’ll never succeed or that your dreams, goals and aspirations are not valid.  Every artistic being on the face of the earth has heard this more times than not and it can mean the difference between a dream being deferred like or squashed like a bug.

Based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, Gran Turismo is the ultimate wish fulfillment movie revolving around  a team of unlikely underdogs –  a working-class gamer, a former race-car driver, and an idealistic motorsport executive — who risk it all to take on the most elite sport in the world.

Billions of gamers around the globe clock in hundreds of hours on a simulated track.  You can have the best reaction time, all of the skill, but when you’re going wheel-to-wheel at 200 miles per hour, that’s when you get the chance to prove that you’re for real. Taking a Nintendo game from console to track was risky for Nissan and it paid off in spades with Mardenborough.

Being an avid race car fan, this movie simultaneously elated and surprised me.  Going in, I expected this to be another in the canon of video games adapted that would be cheesy with a lot of electronic graphics.  Director Neil Bloomkamp not only makes this flick a rousing, edge of your seat, action drama, but discovers the heart provided with a beautifully crafted screenplay from Jason Hall, Zach Baylin and  Alex Tse.

What makes Gran Turismo fire on all cylinders is the relationship between Mardenborough and the two major male figures in his life – Jack Salter and Steve Mardenborough, who are wonderfully portrayed by David Harbour and Djimoun Hounsou.  Hounsou and Madekwe have a poignant, mood shifting father and son scene which will touch your heart in all the right places.

However, Archie Madekwe as Jann places you right into the drivers seat and mind of a young man who refused to give up on himself and his dream.  He brings just the right amount of humanity, angst and bravado making audiences build empathy and cheer for an outcome you may or may not see coming.  David Harbour is the quiet fire of the bunch and grounds the entire film alongside Orlando Bloom.

The racing car sequences are breathtakingly soul snatching.  Your mouth will drop with one particular reenactment literally making me lose my breath for a good five minutes.

Whether you are a racing fan or not, Gran Turismo is a exhilarating peek into an unfamiliar world initiating fans of Mardenborough and the world of racing together under one roof for the experience of a lifetime.