‘Gran Turismo’ (2023) Movie Review: “Worth The Watch”

When you hear Gran Turismo, what do you think of typically? If you’re familiar with it, you’ll most likely think of the series of PlayStation-exclusive racing simulators without much of a campaign attached, so when news came that a film was in development many understandably scratched their heads.

That is until it came out that the movie would cover the true story of the ‘Gran Turismo Academy’ and its most successful pupil, Jann Mardenborough, as he goes from an average down on his luck guy to a professional racer just from the skills he learned in the game because of just how accurate to the real thing it was. While many were sceptical of this as a concept, it was also acknowledged the potential of the idea.

This was also greatly ignored as soon as the marketing for this movie amped up with cringe-worthy trailer lines, goofy taglines in bold text on the poster, and an overreliance on it being “based on a true story”. Not an ounce of this inspired much of any confidence in anyone for obvious reasons.

You’re using the name of a popular intellectual property to not make a movie about the game, but about the impact of the game, alright that’s interesting but also a little hard to market, and at the same time, it had the same frenetic awkward pop song in every trailer, it gave less the energy of a sports biopic and more a rejected sequel to Tokyo Drift.

I had the privilege of seeing Neil Blomkamp’s Gran Turismo almost a month early thanks in part to Regal Mystery Movie event held twice a month showcasing upcoming and unreleased films. I’ll be the first to admit I was cautious going into this, it looked well, and goofy, but I was very pleasantly surprised by what the cast and crew put together, it was far more than what it was marketed as.

For starters, there’s some really creative stuff done with the creation of the film; the editing, the sound design, the shot composition. At first, Jann is just playing the game, and so to get the audience into his headspace, a car seemingly materializes around his gamer set-up so you can feel the energy he feels, and that’s really creative, then later on, they callback to this edit when he’s on the track and the car fades away and he’s back in his bedroom talking to his dad about the game, and that’s so unique from a visual standpoint.

There’s also a common occurrence of overlaying user interface visuals from the actual games onto the races so that we the audience can keep decent track of where Jann is, stuff like showing the desired track, where he is relative to everyone else on screen positions appearing above their cars, stuff like that.

Sound is also a really important facet of this movie, there are so many moments where you can feel the panic, the fear, the calm before the storm, and that’s done through really subtle but effective ways of making us feel like Jann, this outsider in this bold new world.

There are also quite a few genuinely great performances. David Harbour as usual brings dry wit but also just this somber charm that I think people are gonna gravitate to. Orlando Bloom for what he’s given is a good presence, nothing too special. But on the exact opposite side, man, Djimon Hounsou, what an actor, he was in next to no promotional material for the movie, but he just delivered 110% emotionally next to Madkewe.

Speaking of which, I’ve not seen him in anything yet, but while the performance didn’t work for me at first, he really grew on me by the end, and he had full control of the scene during his emotional scenes, great stuff all around, and I’d love to see him do more in the future.

The writing is the one, kind of weaker element of the movie, I have to admit. While next to none of the lines people rolled their eyes at from the trailers were in the final products, they also criminally underdevelop both their primary antagonist, the love interest, as well as the reasoning behind the animosity towards simulator racers. However, in spite of that, the main cast makes the best out of the material they’re given.

Gran Turismo is a charming underdog of a movie, much like Jann himself, with a lot of potential and a lot of really good quirks and ideas, but just shy of greatness. Due to the spectacle, the heart, the skill behind the camera, and the actors involved, it’s nothing short of a 7/10, not bad, but certainly worth the watch if you’ve got the time.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Gran Turismo releases in theaters on August 10.